Holding Out For A Hero
by SinisterlySexy
Summary: After the death of Harry Potter, the wizarding world has been turned over to the dark side. Elena Colden is determined to change the fate of the world, even if it means going on a mission back in time to kill the Dark Lord before he comes into power...
1. A Day In The Life

Summary: It has been five years since the death of Harry Potter and the rise of the Dark Lord. The Ministry has fallen, Hogwarts has been taken over; Muggleborns who couldn't escape in time were taken to concentration camps and never heard of again. Elena Colden is one of the few purebloods who can't stand the new system. After the loss of her two best friends, she wishes everything just never happened. Being the only one so against Voldemort, she is sent back in time on a mission to change the fate of the Wizarding World.

DISCLAIMER: If I was JKRowling I wouldn't be studying my ass off for my exams coming up…

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Chapter 1- A Day in the Life

Elena yawned, mumbling incoherently as her alarm rang incessantly. It was times like these she wondered why she had even bothered charming it. She fumbled, half asleep trying to shut the damn thing off. But alas, it refused shut up. Pity she had to be woken up, it had been a rather pleasant dream. She was eleven again, laughing with her two best friends, the twins Camilla and Carmen. It was the Christmas holidays, Elena stayed over at their house and they were up all night, watching muggle moving pictures called movies, teasing each other about their crushes, and drinking a most wonderful drink (if she recalled correctly, it was called coke).

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT I'M UP", Elena yelled frustratingly at the obscene sound. Honestly, if there was one sound she hated more than anything in the world, it was her alarm clock. She sadistically envisioned herself setting the bloody nuisance on fire, before dissolving its ashes in acid; ahh, revenge was sweet.

Elena walked up to the bathroom (surprised it wasn't occupied for once) and splashed her face with water. She surveyed the red-and-gold dormitory, it was empty. For that one brief moment she forgot why that was so, still caught up in her dream world. But then it all came crashing down on her, like a ton of extremely hard, heavy bricks. _Of course the dormitory was empty_, she thought bitterly. She was the _only_ seventh year Gryffindor witch left in Hogwarts.

In fact, she has been the only Gryffindor witch in her year for four years. At first the loneliness was inevitable. She missed the laughter, the chattering, even the snoring she used to oh so detest. But now there was nothing but silence. She was used to it of course, after four years of silence, isolation and misery, she just ignored it. Instead, she took to music. Yes, you heard right, music. It was the only way she could express her grief, she poured out her soul, her sorrows, her memories, turning them into songs. There was nothing she prized more than her guitar and lyric book. But of course, this was something no one at Hogwarts knew, goodness; she had no idea what they would do to her if they found out? Break her guitar? Burn her lyrics? Elena shuddered at the thought.

She reluctantly pulled on her uniform, didn't even bother brushing her hair (it's not like she cared what people thought of her anyway) and stormed out of the common rooms. Her stomach rumbled and for some reason, she craved chocolate (nothing unusual there.) Thinking she'd settle for some chocolate chip waffles (after all the ones the house elves made were absolutely _divine_). Suddenly, the scowl she wore so often curved up into a smile as she made her way into the Great hall only to find it…empty?

_Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT._

She looked up at the enchanted ceiling to see the morning sun already up and shining. Bollocks, how long had she been asleep? She was _late_, for her first day of classes. _Brilliant Elena, just bloody brilliant._

Clutching her sling back so it wouldn't bounce as she ran (she hated this), Elena ran to her first lesson, potions. Luckily for her, Professor Slughorn liked her (much to the Slytherins' distaste.) It wouldn't be that bad? At the most she'd get some points docked off- not that she cared… And, then Elena tripped, falling face-flat onto the hard cold dungeon floor. Of course, things just _had_ to be going her way, like they always did.

She was about to get up slowly, when the after-silence of her fall was broken by loud chattering; loud chattering by some very familiar and annoying voices. Potions couldn't have been over could it? Did she honestly wake up that late? Elena realised in horror that she was still on the floor as students rushed out of the darkened room. She quickly scrambled to get up which only resulted in her falling back down, with a very audible thud…Which unfortunately happened to catch the attention of the one, the only…drum roll please…

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Looks like you've finally learnt your manners Colden and learnt to bow at our feet like the filth you are", Marquisse Flint drawled in her annoyingly girly voice. Ugh, Elena wanted to strangle her skinny little neck. Oh how she longed to do that.

"I was not bowing down to you", she shot back, getting up to my feet, "I _tripped_." Marquisse's eyes glinted with glee; the maniacal smile on her face was actually really starting to creep Elena out. "Oh course you would trip, especially on a hard, completely level floor with no bumps"

_Oh yeah, well it takes skill to fall on a flat surface_, Elena wanted to retort, but she merely rolled her eyes. Damn her and her clumsiness. She turned her back, walking away from the very spawn of evil, and her two blonde, idiotic sidekicks.

"Oh look, poor little Elena running away from the big bad Slytherins. Where's your Gryffindor bravery now huh?" Marquisse yelled out.

_Ignore her. Ignore her. Ignore her. Ignore her._ Elena repeated the chant in her head; _don't get angry come on, she's not worth it…_

"You know, it wouldn't hurt if you actually held a brush to your hair. It looks like a haystack, although there's nothing unusual there. I bet even a comb couldn't fix that rat's nest. Isn't it pathetic to know, no matter how hard you try to look good and to be one of us you fail? You're a disgrace to our blood you filthy, blood traitor, no wonder your parents disowned you."

_What a low blow_. "THAT'S IT", Elena screamed, running up to her, "You insufferable little cow don't you DARE tell me what a disgrace is" She pulled out her wand, jabbing it into the Slytherin's neck.

However she was cut short by a stern voice. "Is something the matter, Miss Colden?" Severus Snape, the kindest, most good-natured, reasonable, not-evil (yes, note obvious sarcasm) headmaster Hogwarts had ever seen walked by. Great, just great, as if Elena's day wasn't getting any worse, "Colden, see me in my office tonight at seven." And with that he walked off.

It was hard not to resist the urge to slap the smirk off Flint's face. (Which Elena surprisingly held knowing her ferocious temper.) Successfully ignoring Marquisse, which she should have done from the beginning, Elena walked into the potions classroom hoping to make up for the lost lesson.

"Ahh, Miss Colden, come in come in", Professor Slughorn said with a chuckle, "I'm afraid you were a bit _too_ late this time, and you missed the lesson."

"My apologies Professor, I slept in a little too late, you know, knowing my nightly activities", Elena couldn't help but add in with a smirk…until she realised who it was she was talking to. Argh, curse her tongue, she really should _think_ before she speaks, she couldn't believe she said that to a teacher, let alone an old man probably in his nineties. Who knows what creepy thoughts would be going on in his head?

The old man, continued chuckling, "Such cheek Miss, especially for a young woman your age. I really should dock off points but I'll make an exception. You know, it was always such a pity you weren't in my house…"

The professor went on, and on, and on, like he did every time he saw her. Impatiently, she stopped him in his ramblings, "Professor, is there perhaps any way I could make up for the lost lesson? If it was anything important?"

"You know Miss Colden, you remind me of a girl I knew a long time ago, you even look just like her, if you ignore some minor differences. No, it can't be possible, my memory's pretty weak and I can't recall…"

Elena tried not to show her impatience on her face, but as Camilla had once told her, she was an open book and even someone as unperceptive as Slughorn could tell. "You can come in this evening Miss Colden, we were doing a review of last year and brewing the Draught of Peace, nothing you could not do"

"Sir, I have to see Professor Snape in the evening." Slughorn laughed, "Ahh, in trouble already are you Miss Colden? Never you mind, I won't take marks off for not completing the potion, go off, enjoy the free period with your friends."

_Friends?_ Elena resisted scoffing. She didn't have any friends. At least, not since she was twelve. She was twelve when she saw her best friend dieand itwasn't right, Camilla was so young, and it was the day before her birthday…

Elena had been twelve years old when the Dark Lord defeated Harry Potter and she remembered it clearly, the memory haunting her forever. She even used to get nightmares, The Dark Lord with his sickeningly pale, snake like face and red stilt eyes. He would reach out; trail one thin finger down her cheek before pointing his wand at her and killing her, just like that; just like he had killed Harry. Elena shuddered. _Don't think about that now._ Elena shut her eyes, tears threatening to leak out. No, no, don't, you'll only embarrass yourself, especially in front of Slughorn.

She walked out of the room, heading straight for the common room. _Why is the world so unfair, why do the good people never win? You read it in books; see it in movies, but in reality? It's nothing but a lie; a big, fat, horrible lie._ She hated her life. The only thing she lived for was the hope that someday, this world would change, it would no longer matter how pure you blood was, or how rich or powerful your family… Yeah right, who was she kidding; she was only one of the handful of people who wanted the world to change. The rest were either missing, had run away, were locked up in prison, taken to the concentration camps she'd heard the Slytherins talking excitedly about, or were powerless to do anything. You couldn't correct a world where everyone was against you. If only Elena had one person who believed in justice like her, if only…

She turned a corner, almost reaching the Fat Lady's portrait when she heard a whimper. She turned back to see a group of Slytherin fourth years crowding around a second year Hufflepuff. Elena grimaced. She knew what they were going to do and it was absolutely disgusting.

She walked closer to see the Hufflepuff boy with a blackened eye, a swollen lip with blood trickling down his nose.

"We hope you've learnt you lesson because know this, we're not going to let you off easy next time", and with that, the Slytherins stormed off after seeing her approach.

_Cowards._

Elena immediately walked up to the boy sitting on the ground, his face contorted with pain. He probably couldn't get up. In a normal situation she would have taken him straight to the hospital wing, but in the corrupted society they were in, the healer probably wouldn't even treat the boy. "Are you ok?" she asked the small boy, concerned. He gave a weak shake of his head. It was unbelievable, how those cruel, wretched, foul, pathetic excuses of human beings could do this to an innocent child.

"Ok, hold still, I'll fix you up", she pulled her wand out of her pocket, tapped it to the boy's nose. "_Episky_" Slowly the boy's nose began reforming, and it returned to its original shape. With a couple more well placed spells, she fixed his broken ankle and cleaned up his body, "Here you might want some ice for that eye of yours, not sure I can do much about it, I'm afraid". "Thanks," the boy croaked out, "You're not like the others."

Elena smiled. "I know. Now come on, I'll walk you back to your common room."

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Elena walked alone to her next lesson, Defence Against the Dark Arts, the lesson she hated most. She found it ludicrous that they still kept the same name. They were literally teaching the students the Dark Arts. Gave them a good excuse to use the cruciatus on the students, she supposed… claiming that the students were 'meant' to defend themselves… It sickened her. For once in her life, she showed up early. Besides, the only thing that made the class bearable was that she had it with the Hufflepuffs. There was one girl in particular, Janelle Rivers, who was quite pleasant to talk to, when she wasn't cowering like a mouse from Carrow. Speak of the devil. The shy seventh year walked in, taking a seat next to Elena. At first she was too scared to sit next to her, worrying that the professor might hate her for sitting next to someone who was so openly against the blood system. But over time they became pretty good…acquaintances…

"Hi Elena, how were your holidays?" She asked timidly. Elena rolled her eyes. "Oh you know typical, since my parents love me so much, we all took a trip to Italy and spent some real family quality time together."

"Oh, that's great." She replied. _Great? GREAT?_ Was she really that thick? Elena's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Elena didn't reply as the room was soon filled with students, and unfortunately Professor Carrow. He had taken to hating her ever since she managed to fight off the imperius curse in her fourth year.

"Today, we'll be reviewing the unforgivables." Perfect, Carrow just had to start the year with his favourite topic. It wasn't as if we hadn't _'gone over'_ them a million times. That 'reviewing' was synonym for '_Watching-sadistically-as-the-pathetic-students-writhe-in-agony-as-they-face-my-wrath'_

"Colden, you're up first, come on." Elena walked up to the front, awaiting the pain. She had seen him perform it on other students but never on her, there was no reason he wouldn't do it now.

"Show the class how to perform a Cruciatus." Elena stared blankly. Who was she to perform it on? "Me" he answered as if reading her thoughts. _Was he serious? Why would he willingly ask for the cruciatus to be performed on him, a teacher? Either this was an elaborate ploy to embarrass me in front of the class or he could somehow deflect the curse so it landed on me… _It was hard to imagine him not having evil ulterior motives.

Elena walked up and stood in front of him, wand at his forehead. She would show him. She mustered up all the hate she had in her and yelled out 'Crucio'. She waited, to see her professor screaming in pain but there was nothing happening.

"Silly, Silly, Silly girl, thought you could actually curse me did you? Thought that you were so smart that you could reduce me, a teacher, into that? For the curse to work you need to mean it, Colden, let me show you an example." In that moment, he truly looked murderous and Elena shut her eyes, waiting for the impact.

"_Crucio_"

The pain was worse than anything she had experienced. A million needles were being pierced through her skin repeatedly; stabbing at her, harder and harder each time. Her flesh burned and her head threatened to explode. She couldn't bear it anymore. She would rather die. All of a sudden the pain stopped. Elena was a helpless heap on the floor and she hadn't realised she was crying. She hastily wiped her cheeks, leaving her bag and just running straight back to her dormitory, her only sanctuary, her safe haven where no one could disturb her.

_It's not fair. It's not fair how I have to suffer after all they've done to me_, she buried her head in her pillow trying to stifle her sobs but they didn't stop, _Fuck you Voldemort, I truly hope you die the most painful death possible and your body rots in hell._


	2. Shocking Revelations and Ninja Missions

Authors note: Holy crap! That was definitely more reviews than expected. Thank you guys sooo much! Well, without further ado…the next chapter!

DISCLAIMER: Don't own the little italic excerpt; it's taken from Deathly Hallows as you can clearly tell.

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Chapter 2- Shocking Revelations and Ninja Missions

Elena woke up once again to the ringing of that blasted alarm clock… and she didn't even charm it this time. She looked out of her window. The sky was a pale mauve just beginning to darken. Oh shit, she had to meet Professor Snape. Who knows what the creepy, greasy-haired headmaster had in store for her. Not wanting to be late and punished, Elena got out of bed going straight for the headmaster's office.

With her luck she prayed she hopefully wouldn't bump into…

"Oi, Colden didn't see you at Charms this afternoon. Is it true you ran to your room crying to you mummy after Professor Carrow cursed you? Oh wait, your mummy doesn't even want you; you poor little thing."

_Stay calm Elena don't blow up, you know what happened last time._

"You heinous little bi-" But she couldn't finish that sentence. "Miss Colden, I suggest you keep your temper controlled or I might be forced to set you right. This is the second time I've caught you shouting at Miss Flint. Follow me." Marquisse smirked that evil, vile smirk on her pretty little face. Elena wanted to punch her, but she held back.

Once they reached Professor Snape's office, he faced her. "Miss Colden, I suggest you consider what you're about to say before mouthing off, if someone other than I, say Professor Carrow showed up, he wouldn't think twice before using the Cruciatus curse on you again."

"Why are you being nice to me?" she asked suspiciously as Snape was behaving pretty…scratch that, _very_ uncharacteristically. Usually he would sneer and set her some horrible detention that would involve her doing something she really didn't want to do and him enjoying her pain and discomfort.

Snape simply smiled mysteriously, "I know you think this highly out of character as you have assumed I've been on the Dark Lord's side this whole time, but you of all people should know appearances are deceiving." Elena narrowed her eyes. "Why don't you speak to professor Dumbledore for yourself?"

That did it. How DARE he speak about Professor Dumbledore when he had single-handedly killed the kind, old yet somewhat crazy man who was her headmaster for her first year? Elena voiced her thoughts and Snape merely smiled. As much as that creeped her out, she continued on her verbal assault, "Dumbledore was a million times the man you'll ever be you lying, manipulating, cowardly, pathetic…"

"I suggest you stop right there Miss Colden", she heard a voice behind the headmaster say.

"Pr-pr-professor Dumbledore?" She gaped. _Snape actually kept his portrait in his office? Bloody hell, the surprises just kept coming and coming didn't they?_

"I know you don't believe Professor Snape in the slightest, but he's telling the truth." Elena's mouth fell open…well it was already open, it just…expanded…for lack of a better word, "Miss Colden, Professor Snape has been on our side all along, feeding me information on Voldemort. If you don't believe us, take a look at this," he gestured towards a-a, _a bowl-like-thingy_, Elena settled on, in the corner of the room.

Elena put her head into the bowl, which the professor told her was called a Pensieve, (into some strange half liquid half gas substance) and soon everything around her faded out and she found herself in the headmasters office, except it certainly looked different from how it did now.

"_In short, the boy has had a death sentence pronounced as surely as I have," said _

_Dumbledore. "Now, I should have thought that the natural successor to the job, once Draco fails, is yourself?_

_There was a short pause._

"_That, I think, is the dark lords plan."_

"_Lord Voldemort foresees a moment in the near future when he will not need a spy at Hogwarts?"_

"_He believes the school be in his grasp, yes."_

"_And if it does fall into his grasp," said Dumbledore, "I have your word that you will do all in your power to protect the students at Hogwarts?" Snape gave a stiff nod. "Good. Now then…"_

Their conversation went on something about a Draco Malfoy which Elena didn't understand.

_Snape raised his eyebrows and his tone was sardonic as he asked, "Are you intending to let him kill you?"_

"_Certainly not, you must kill me."_

_There was a loud silence. "Would you like me to do it now or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph?" asked Snape his voice heavy with irony. "Oh not yet," said Dumbledore smiling, "I daresay the moment will present itself in due course, given what has happened tonight, he indicated his withered hand, we can be sure that it will happen within a year."_

"_If you don't mind dying let Draco do it?"_

(By now Elena figured out this 'Draco' was the 'hot' sixth year Carmen had an obsessive crush on. Wasn't he the one who turned death eater?)They went on talking until their conversation once again caught her fancy.

"_I ask this one great favour of you Severus, because death is coming for me, as surely as the Chudley cannons will finish the bottom of this year's league. I confess I should prefer a quick, painless exit to the protracted and messy affair it will be if, for instance Greyback is involved- I hear Voldemort has recruited him… or dear Bellatrix who likes to play with her food before she eats it." His tone was light. At last Snape gave another curt nod and Dumbledore seemed satisfied, "Thank you Severus."_

Elena felt the memory slipping away and she was back in the real world. _What. The. Hell. Was. That._

"You were just in a memory, Miss Colden; this was what had gone on six years ago. See, it was not Professor Snape who killed me, well, technically it was but I had to force him to," the portrait chuckled. Elena was still too shocked to respond.

Professor Dumbledore continued, "The reason we have brought you in tonight is because we need your help. You are the only one left in Hogwarts who still wants the world back to how it was before, you're the only one who cares enough to want to do something about it. Miss Colden, we want you to help us in this…mission…if that's what we could call it."

"A mission, sir?" Elena asked, envisioning herself as a ninja wearing a black mask, cart-wheeling through laser beams just like she had seen in the muggle movies. Now she was interested.

"Not the kind of mission you're imagining, Miss," Professor Dumbledore continued with a twinkle in his eye (well, if portraits would have a twinkle in their eye), "Well, I must get going, I have a tea party Sir Cadogean and the Fat Lady, Professor Snape will brief you on the mission."

"Wait! But how will I get into my common room if the Fat Lady is off to tea?" Elena protested but the professor was gone.

"Ahem," the greasy-haired-hooked-nose-Professor, who wasn't the lying coward Elena thought, interrupted.

"I know this mission is unexpected and we understand fully if you do not wish to go through with it but we need someone willing, and you are the perfect candidate for the job."

"I'll do it Sir," Elena said readily, she was willing to get out of the school, especially since she was a complete social reject, had no friends, and everyone else hated the ground they claimed she strutted on.

"Miss Colden, if you may, please take a seat this might take a while."

"So wait, let me get this straight, you want me to go back in time and kill Lord Voldemort when he was still a teenager?" her voice was incredulous, "Are you kidding? We're talking about the future evil, dark lord here. How on earth am I supposed to do that?" It was true, she was starting to get a little too paranoid. How could SHE defeat the darkest wizard of all time…well, a quick avada kedavra while he was asleep could work but she wasn't so sure she could do that. She couldn't torture Carrow, the most evil ruthless person she knew (second to Voldemort of course), how would she kill teenage-Voldemort?

"I didn't say kill, Miss Colden, there are other ways of stopping him from sealing his fate as the darkest wizard of all time."

"Other ways? Like what?" She questioned.

"Befriend him, the only reason Lord Voldemort is who…or what he is today is because he never had anyone who loved him or cared for him. As a young child, he was abandoned by his mother at a Muggle Orphanage where everyone hated him. His muggle father left his mother after finding out she was pregnant and a witch. In Hogwarts he had many admirers, but never any true friends. If you succeed in giving him a friend who he could trust, you could change him mind about the world, show him that there are people who care about him. Consider it, Miss Colden, you could prevent so many deaths, your two best friends would be alive when you get back, the world would be a different, better place." Snape continued before grimacing, "God I sound like Dumbledore, the old fool."

"Why would he want to be my friend anyway? I'm a Gryffindor? Doesn't he like hate us?" She asked.

"I'll let you figure out _how_ you befriend him yourself." _Holy shit was that a wink? Severus Snape never winks. And what does he mean by how?_ "…Here is a file with all the information you need to help succeed, it's got information about his past, your false identity slips, forged hogsmead letters, etcetera. We leave tomorrow morning, pack your things, read up on some of the facts I've provided you with. Good luck. Oh, and I suggest you transfigure your clothes so you fit in with the times, just read the books in the file, they've got everything you need."

"Uhh, thanks Professor, I'll be off…"

To say Elena was shocked would be an understatement. When she heard mission she did _not_ expect travelling back sixty years in time to, of all things, become _friends_ with -she shuddered- the teenage Voldemort. He probably looked just like he did now, except smaller but still snake-like and ugly.

She walked back to the dormitory –thank Merlin the fat lady was still there, and picked up the file Professor Snape had given her to read. There were old Hogwarts records, "Fashion of the 1940s" and details about her fake back-story. Apparently Voldemort was this guy called 'Tom Riddle'. _That was probably the most unlikely name for an evil person,_ Elena thought, _it sounded…ordinary, plain, not-evil._ "He won a special service to the school award?" she gasped out aloud. Didn't the teachers realise he was the very epitome of evil? Were they that blind? And he got perfect grades too? Wow, the surprises just kept on coming.

Elena packed her trunk, transfiguring her skirts so they fell a bit below her knee. She wondered laughingly about how the people back then would react if she showed up wearing the skirts she normally wore. Just for jokes, she threw in a couple, without transfiguring them, along with some muggle shorts, vests and her favourite SpongeBob pyjamas. Yes, it was embarrassing, but she was emotionally attached to them and the memories that came along.

She also threw in her lyrics book and she shrunk her guitar so it fit in her trunk. Finally, Elena packed in the photo of herself with Camilla and Carmen, before shutting the trunk and falling asleep. Tomorrow was going to be a _long_ day.

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A/N: You see that little button at the bottom that says 'review'? Isn't it pretty? Isn't it, isn't it? *silence* Ok fine, but it will feel prettier if you click it so PLEASE DO :)


	3. Hello Gorgeous!

A/N: Thank you so much all of you for your lovely reviews! Anonymous Echo: yeah I guess it is pretty confusing at first but I'll clear it all up for you. So Elena was 12 during the final battle and this is set in an alternate universe where Voldemort kills Harry. Her two best friends were Muggleborn and were also killed. A year ago she was disowned by her parents (this will come up later as she would be able to relate with Tom as he's been an orphan all his life). So now for the chapter…this is where things are going to start to get really exciting because she travels back in time and bumps into…(hint: he's a 6th year Slytherin prefect with first name Tom and last name Riddle) So get ready for the first Elena/Tom action in the story. Of course they hit it off well (if by well you mean arguing.) Well, without further ado: ZE CHAPTEUR! (Excuse the French accent, I have a French oral tomorrow and am getting over buzzed up about it). Ok, the rambling ends here. Enjoy my dear readers!

Chapter three- Hello, Gorgeous!

_Ring, ring_

Elena snored lightly, turning around and covering her face with her blanket

_Ring, Ring_

"SHUT UP YOU WRETCHED EXCUSE FOR AN ALARM CLOCK."

_And so the day started…_

Elena got up in a hurry, throwing an endless stream of curses at the clock. Didn't professor Snape tell her they were leaving in the morning? Yikes, she hoped she wasn't too late. After a quick shower, she stood in front of the mirror and charmed her hair dry. _Wrong move._ Instead of lying nice and flat like it was supposed to, Elena's hair poofed up like a fan, falling around her face like a poofy, frizzy ball of…hair. _Bloody hair_. Elena stared at her reflection in horror, her dark -the only word she could honestly think of was poof- of hair contrasted shockingly against her pale skin making her look…well, _depressing_.

Sighing dejectedly, Elena got dressed and carried her trunk to Snape's office.

_This was just fucking perfect, _Elena thought_._

_Come on, it's not like you need to make a good impression on teenage-Voldie, he probably looks about a million times paler and uglier than you. _The little voice in her head argued.

_Ok, who the bloody hell are you?_

_Why, I am you Elena Colden, you are talking to yourself_

Elena banged her head against a railing. Talking to herself? Now she was going clinically insane. _Ok, focus Elena focus, be POSITIVE. Ok, so what are the good things about the mission? No Marquisse for goodness knows how long, no annoying professors, no Carrow, no buggersome parents, no silence, no dorm all to yourself…_

"Miss Colden, were you just talking to yourself?" Professor Snape interrupted her thoughts, an amused half-twisted-weird smile on his face.

"Um…no?"

Snape raised an eyebrow, "Right."

"So, I trust you've come prepared for this mission?" he continued, "As you must have read last night, your name is to be Elena Grey and so your little head doesn't get confused, we kept the same first name. Now, you are a sixth year homeschooled up to now and your parents were recently killed by some of Grindelwald's followers, your tutor has run away and you have no choice but to go to Hogwarts."

"Wait, I'm in sixth year? But I'm in seventh year!" Elena cut in.

"Professor Dumbledore would prefer if you were to go during Riddle's sixth year. It is the year he commits his first murder; his father. There is still hope for you to help him."

"Uhh ok, go on."

"You are to go see Headmaster Dippet, give him the letters; you will probably be sorted again…"

"Wait!"

"I am waiting." Snape narrowed his eyes. _Whoa calm down, I'm sorry I said you were acting out of character last night but that didn't mean you could come back to normal so quickly._

"Should I ask the hat to put me in Slytherin, or should I just be in Gryffindor? But wouldn't Voldemort hate me if I was in Gryffindor? But I really don't want to be in Slytherin…"

"Miss Colden," Snape was on the verge of losing control yet he kept his voice calm, "How you tackle this mission is not my problem, you can be in whichever house you wish. You could probably choose Hufflepuff as well though I don't see how that will help you in any away. _Moving on_, you will be using a portkey to travel back in time, and it will work as long as you clearly repeat the incantation '_transporto mihi tergum sexaginta annus_' before touching it. The portkey has already been cast with special charm that will enable the incantation to work, sending you back, literally, sixty years. I trust you've packed everything and are ready to go?"

"Yes, but…"

"What."

"Uhm, can you fix my hair?" Elena asked sheepishly. Snape sighed and flicked his wand, "Anything else Miss?"

"Yeah, how do I get back here? You never told me."

"That, I do not know."

"WHAT?" she nearly screamed.

"You go to Dumbledore in the past, he should probably still be alive", he said sarcastically, "Ask him to cast the _vicis viator_ charm on the portkey; you will probably need to change the incantation. I am sure Professor Dumbledore would tell you everything. Any more questions now?"

"Nope", she grinned. _If you ignored the entire creepy befriending-future-evil-dark-lord thing, this mission would actually be pretty fun. Alright Mini-V, watch your back, because her comes Elena Colden, I mean Grey. Whoops, i've got to remember that._

Elena blinked, her eyes adjusting to the dark, musty atmosphere around her. _Where the hell am I?_

She tried to get up, only to bang her head _hard_ on the low ceiling. _Ouch_. She seemed to be stuck in some sort of broom closet…hopefully in 1944.

She tried to open the door, but no avail. She was locked. In a dark, constricted closet, where she could barely see. _Shite. _Did she say the right incantation? What is she messed up one small word, which caused her to end up in a completely different time frame…what if she went back six hundred years instead of sixty? What if…well, the possibilities were endless but there was only one way to find out.

"Help?" she shouted pounding her fists on the door, "CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP, IM LOCKED IN A BROOM CLOSET"

She shouted, and pounded, and banged the door until her voice was hoarse. After about half an hour, she gave up, slumping against the door. Looks like she would have to spend the night in the dirty, dingy broom closet…she'd probably end up eating herself, and dying a slow, painful death as her flesh rotted like the mould in the corners of the closet. Lovely mental picture wasn't it?

Just as she was about to give up all hope, the closet doors jerked open and Elena fell on the floor, coughing and spluttering. _Note to self, don't lean on the doors of a closet, you'll fall out and hit your head when someone opens it._

"Would you mind telling me exactly what you were doing in a broom closet, alone, at this hour?" Her nameless-rescuer questioned. Elena couldn't exactly describe his voice, it was calm, controlled yet somehow haughty? Like I said, it was difficult to describe.

"Um, what time is it?" She managed weakly, her voice still hoarse from all that shouting.

"Eleven thirty." The boy was impatient, tapping his foot on the floor annoyingly...yet his voice was still cool, calm and controlled. Either way, he gave Elena the creeps. She looked up from the floor, to face her nameless-rescuer for the first time and…

_BLIMEY! _She had to literally stop herself for stuttering incoherantly._  
_

_Hello, Gorgeous!_

The boy, well he looked around about her age, maybe a little older...he was, well…_beautiful_. Her still-nameless rescuer was really tall (but that could be because she was on the floor) with wavy black hair, neatly parted at the side (_figured he'd be a neat freak)_,high, defined cheekbones, a strong jaw line…bloody hell, he was _perfect_.

Elena had read tons of cheesy stories, you know? Where you see this amazingly perfect guy and its love at first sight? Well, she never believed in them, you know, being the cynic she is, but honestly, this was exactly like one of those moments; where a fairly-plain damsel-in-distress gets rescued by the handsome prince.

Elena stared on, her mouth slightly open (God, she hoped she wasn't drooling, how embarrassing would that be?) before shutting it quickly. She continued staring at the hot-but-still-nameless-probably-a-sixth-or-seventh-year. His eyes were too dark to make out in the night light, probably grey or blue, either way…

"Um"

_ELENA YOU NUTTER! Of all the most intelligent things you had to say, it had to be um. Great, now he'll take you to be some sort of dim-witted idiot. Great. Wonderful impression to make._

"Miss are you alright, you seem a bit disoriented?"

_GAHH, and he was so polite too. Wasn't he absolutely perfect? Hey, snap out of it Elena, this guy is probably sixty years older than you. Not to mention he is __**completely **__out of your league. That's even worse than the paedophile-sparkly-vampire and his whiny girlfriend Bella. What was his name again? Edmund? Edgar? Actually, no… nothing can be worse than that._

She continued to stare stupidly at unnamed-rescuer…lets call him hot-guy for now until she figures out his name.

_Say something you twat!_

"Uhm, yeah, fine. Could you take me to see the headmaster?" _He raised one perfectly arched-brow. Honestly, why is he so gorgeous? He's definitely doing wonders for my self esteem right now. I wish my eyebrows looked like that. I mean, I tried to do them once but I only ended up shearing off half my eyebrow and had to cover it up with eyeliner. Except it was painfully obvious what had happened, Marquisse hadn't let it go for a week…until my eyebrow grew back of course._

"Why would you need to see the headmaster at this time?"

_Can you tell me where you get your eyebrows done?_ She wanted to ask, but of course, that's not something you tell a stranger…well, a very attractive stranger. "I'm new, just transferred."

"You transferred at 11 o'clock at night? How did you get into the broom closet?"

_Ok, now he's starting to get annoying. This isn't his business._

"I am a prefect, it's my business to catch students, especially those with suspiciously implausible excuses", his tone was sceptical.

Oh whoops, she must have spoken that out loud…unless he could read minds…

"Can you just take me to the goddamn office?" Elena shouted, infuriated

"Tut tut, language little one. Young ladies your age shouldn't have such a…colourful…vocabulary."

_Excuse me, who are you calling little? And I'd have you know my vocabulary is much more colourful than that thank you very much._

But she thought it would be best not to provoke him. It was best not to raise suspicion anyway. Apparently girls of the time were submissive little – well, she realised that if she wanted to fit in she had to at least make an attempt not to stick out like a… _GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER ELENA_…stick out like a…banana…yeah, that's what she meant. Wait, bananas don't stick out. _AHA,_ stick out like a _flower_. Yeah, that's non-sexual enough…except it doesn't stick out. Ok, who cares? She just didn't want to make it so obvious that she wasn't from the time.

"Look can you please just take me there. And I'm _not_ little, I'm a se- sixth year."

"Fine, follow me."

Elena followed nameless-hot-stranger up the stairs, to what used to be Snape's office. But instead there was a pale-skinned old man, reclining on a chair (Elena thought he must be asleep) with balding white hair.

"Excuse me, Sir?" hot-guy said his voice perfectly polite. _Argh, infuriating bastard. If only he wasn't so good-looking._

"Ah yes, Mr. Riddle, to what do I owe this…pleasure?" _Ok, so the dude was not asleep. WAIT, did he say RIDDLE. Wasn't that Voldy's last name? Well, it might have been a common last name back then, there was no way in hell this guy was __**Tom **__Riddle._

"Well, there is a student out late, claiming she is a transfer student."

"Oh, alright Riddle, I'll see to her, you may leave."

And with that, hot-guy-who-shares-evil-dark-lord's-last-name left the room.

Elena pulled out the letter from Professor Snape, "Sir, I know this may be an untimely arrival, but I was homeschooled up till now. My parents were killed a week ago and my tutor and I have decided it would be best for me to come to Hogwarts as I would be safer here. He has written you a letter with all the details", she said putting her best polite-voice on.

The headmaster's eyes quickly scanned the note. He immediately accepted the note (no wonder he was never suspicious of Voldemort) and ushered Elena to sit down on the chair in front of him.

"Miss Grey, I see you are a sixth year and have received excellent results for your OWLs. You will have to be sorted however…I suppose it is good you have arrived late, you missed the sorting with the first years, I doubt you will have enjoyed that."

_Damn right, how embarrassing would that be? Thank you portkey. Oh dear, was he gonna sort me now? What the hell would I say? Should I be in Slytherin? It would help right? But I'd have crappy dorm-mates._

She allowed Headmaster Dippet to place the tattered hat on her head. As she expected, she soon heard the voice in her ear.

'Hello Miss Colden.' _Uhh, you mean Miss Grey? My name is Elena Grey._

'Oh, my bad sorry.' _Wait, how did you know my name?_

'My dear, the sorting hat knows everything about everyone.' _Can you read minds?_ 'Then how else would I know which house to put everyone?' _Oh right, yeah, nevermind. _

_Wait, if you know everything who was that prefect who dropped me in the office?_ 'That is for me to know and you to find out Miss Colden.' _Wait, are you suggesting something, what do you mean?_ 'Can I please just get on with my job? The headmaster is getting impatient.'

_Alright, can I not be in Hufflepuff? _'That is for me to decide. Now let's see, you're definitely loyal enough to be a Hufflepuff, hmm; you'll do anything to stand up for yourself and your friends. Brave enough to be a Gryffindor and you've got that Gryffindor temper too. You're ambitious enough to be in Slytherin.'

_He actually thinks I could be a Hufflepuff? He can't be serious, Hufflepuffs are right pansies. _'Alright, I'll rule Hufflepuff out, with language like that there is no way I'm putting you there. Hmm, where to put you…what do you think?'

_Uh, you are actually giving me a choice?_ 'Sure.' _I don't know! I honestly don't._ "Well, neither do I, you are certainly more a Gryffindor than a Slytherin, but Slytherin would help you on your mission much more…although you are better suited to be a Gryffindor."

_Can you just do this? The professor is nearly asleep._ 'Alright, I'm going to say...' _Yes?_ 'Say…' _HURRY UP ALREADY YOU'RE TAKING AGES, '_Alright, I just ran a thorough compatibility analysis on you' _DON'T GO SEARCHING IN MY HEAD _'And I just can not put you in Slytherin, you would never fit in, Better be…Gryffindor!'

_Could have said that ages ago, genius, I'm already in Gryffindor in the future. _'Well, if I couldn't put you in Gryffindor, I would have said Hufflepuff, except you hate Hufflepuffs…Ravenclaw is a big no.'

"Miss Grey, I take it you have been sorted." _Obvious. Were you asleep or what…oh wait, he probably was…_

"Riddle is waiting outside for you, he will escort you to your dormitories." _I KNOW WHERE THE COMMON ROOM IS! Oh wait, I'm a transfer student, right. Oh, but I don't know what the password is…_

"Is there a password or anything? If…Riddle…is not in the same house as me?"

"Oh yes, how could I forget, Riddle is a Slytherin prefect, one of the best actually, but anyway, the password is '_bubbletea_'

Thanking the Professor, Elena walked out of the office to see the mysterious 'Riddle' who may or may-not (probably may not) be Tom Riddle. Actually, the thought itself was absurd and made her want to puke. So, how would she ask him anyway? _'Do you know a repulsive snake like creature who shares your last name?'_

"That took a while." _Oh hurray, Mr. Sardonic is back._

"Well, excuse me, _I_ was getting sorted." She retorted.

"No need to get fired up because I merely commented on how long you took. What house are you in? I presume you are here because you want me to take you to your common room."

_I just knew he was one of those posh prats, well... he is a Slytherin…_ "Whatever. I'm in Gryffindor."

"Should have expected as much." He replied, not angrily, but not pleasantly either. _What the hell was up with his attitude? He needs therapy._

"What exactly do you mean by _that_?" she asked angrily before smirking and adding "Riddle me that, eh, Riddle?"

"Was that some pathetic attempt at humour?"

"Glad you liked it. I live to amuse." She was sarcastic.

"Sure." He raised his eyebrows again._ I WANT HIS EYEBROWS._ Elena couldn't help but ask out, "Are your eyebrows natural?"

"Why wouldn't they be?" he was suspicious.

"Uhh, of course not, they're just…really…nice, you know?"

"No…I don't know, but I…appreciate the complement." _He didn't sound like he appreciated it at all. And he's looking at me like I'm an alien. Oh whoops…_

"Ok look, I'm really not in the mood, can you just…take me there already."

"If I remember correctly you were the one who started this in the first place."

"Ok fine. Whatever. You win, I lose, I couldn't care less."

"Really? It seems like you would care a lot?" He said with an amused smirk. _WAS HE LAUGHING AT __**ME**__. I'LL SHOW YOU._

"No, I don't", she said through gritted teeth, "And how would you know anyway? You don't know me?"

"I'm going to leave the argument at that before you blow up even more."

"I WAS NOT BLOWING UP"

"Ok, you were not." He replied calmly and started walking.

"Hey wait, where are we going?"

"I was under the impression I was to escort you to your common room."

_Well, Mr. Obvious, what do you think? That we were having a tea party with a couple of arguments thrown in?_

For the next couple of minutes they walked in a surprising silence. The tension was so thick you could probably cut it with a knife…well; it wasn't that thick but thick enough that it would take a very sharp knife, like the ones you use to chop up meat.

The silence wasn't broken until they reached the common room. "Ok, well uhh…bye…it was _nice_…talking to you." Elena spoke.

"Goodnight, I s'pose I will be seeing you around."

_OHMYMERLIN HE SAID GOODNIGHT. Wait, why am I hyperventilating over this? I do NOT fancy him, he is infuriating and annoying. ARGH._

"Bubble tea", Elena told the fat lady before stepping in and walking in to the sixth year dormitories.

A/N: So there it was. The first time Elena and Tom met each other…except Elena refuses to believe that the 'Riddle' she saw was 'Tom Riddle'. She has a mental picture of Voldemort being an ugly, half-snake half-corpse so naturally she would be sceptical if she were told that an extremely good-looking prefect like the one she saw were Tom Riddle. Anyway, tell me what you thought about it by clicking that lovely blue button that says review. (it would be very much appreciated)

Next Chapter: Elena meets her Gryffindor Dorm mates and finds out that Riddle is indeed Tom Riddle.

And here is a little excerpt:

_Hold on. WAIT A MINUTE. Did she just say? No she did not. She didn't. There is no way in Godric Gryffindor's shiniest, leather boots that THAT GUY was Tom Riddle, future dark lord. IT JUST WASN'T POSSIBLE. Elena had seen Voldemort before, and he looked well, repulsive. Nothing at all like the gorgeous boy who everyone claimed he was. It was impossible. Even sixty years of age can't do THAT MUCH to you. Or maybe he went through plastic surgery to look more evil. Why would anyone want to do change as face like that?_


	4. WHO is Tom Riddle?

Author's Note: A huge thank you to everyone who took their time to review. Seriously, you guys having been giving nothing but good feedback (of which I am very glad). However, if the story is not to your taste, please feel free to give some constructive criticism, so that I can improve it. Well, without further ado; The much awaited chapter :D

Disclaimer: We do not own Tom Riddle (damn.) however; we own Elena and all the other characters you don't recognise.

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Chapter 4- WHO is Tom Riddle?

Elena was about the open the door to the Gryffindor sixth year girls' dormitories, she was careful to be silent, not wanting to wake her sleeping dorm mates. What she did not anticipate however, was to walk into a brightly lit room with five giggling girls having a slumber party.

"…Speaking of delicious, have you guys seen Riddle, he is gorgeous."

"Tell me about it, I've had him in my arithimacy class for two years, he sits right in front of me! And I just stare at his beautiful back for the whole lesson"

"Ugh, you so LUCKY, I don't have anyone to look at in any of my classes, no wonder I'm actually passing."

_Uhh, on second thoughts, maybe they weren't sleeping? _Elena cautiously stepped in, she was unsure of what the girls would think of her interrupting their…_party_.

"Umm, hi" she said.

"Hello"

"Hey"

"What did you hear? Can you _please_ not tell everyone I like Riddle?"

"Calm down Lucy, it's not like she's going to tell anyone. Are you?"

"Whoa guys, stop bombarding her with questions she looks scared."

"Can you guys please be quiet I'm trying to _read_. Besides, you shouldn't be doing this anyway, our lessons start tomorrow and we don't want a bad start."

"For goodness sakes, let the girl speak."

"Um, thank you. Well, I'm Elena Grey, I just transferred." Elena spoke.

"Transferred? Now? At this time?"

"Why would you transfer in sixth year?"

_Whoa, a question at a time. Aren't you a loud bunch?_ Elena looked at the chocolate wrappings on the floor. _Oh right, they probably were hyper. Well, might as well, answer their questions._

"I was homeschooled up till a week ago. My parents were killed by Grindelwald's followers, and my tutor and I decided it would be best to come to Hogwarts as I'd be safer here."

"Oh, I'm sorry", the girl sitting closest to the door replied.

"It's fine, I'm surviving", Elena shrugged off. _Wow, these people are gullible_, "Besides by Riddle were you talking about the Slytherin Prefect Riddle? The dark-haired handsome one with nice cheekbones?" she asked, before adding, "And eyebrows, his eyebrows are perfect."

"YES! He's the one," an exuberant blonde girl answered, "See, I TOLD you his eyebrows were great. But no, no one listened to me. You guys just said I was weird."

"Well, eyebrows aren't something a girl typically notices about a guy, Char."

"Whatever."

"Hey guys, feeling kinda weird here not knowing your names and all…" Elena trailed off.

"Oh, we are so sorry."

"Charlotte Brown", said the blonde. She looked like the typical blonde, tanned, blue-eyed, you know the deal. But she seemed nice enough.

"Lucy Stanton", said the frantic riddle-lover who has him in her Arithimancy class. She had short really-curly brown hair. I know what you're thinking, strange but the look somehow worked on her.

"Renee Thomas" said a quiet dark-skinned girl sitting at the back. She hadn't said much but seemed fairly pleasant. (A/N: Ok, so I'm not sure if JKR mentioned whether it was Dean's mum or dad who was magical. If it was his dad, lets pretend there is some other wizarding family with the surname Thomas)

"Kate Richardson." That was the slightly uhh...unpleasant (bitchy)… one. Well, who was Elena to judge, she didn't even know them yet. But she had to admit, Kate even _looked_ like a bitch.

"Bethany Walker." The last girl smiled, "But everyone calls me Beth." Beth was one of those girls everyone liked, Elena figured. But to Elena, she just seemed like one of those really-nice, really-perfect people who you couldn't hate because they were so nice. But then again, who was she to judge, she knew them for five minutes.

"And uhh…who is she?" Elena asked, pointing at the girl reading under the blanket on the bed at the far end of the room.

"Oh, that's Muriel Weasley, resident uptight know-it-all", said Kate rolling her eyes, "Believe me; you don't want to get involved with the likes of her."

_Well, that wasn't very nice._ But then again, Elena wasn't exactly nice. She just kept her objectionable thoughts to herself. Come to think of it, she'd probably agree with Kate.

"So, you know the guy you were talking about? Riddle? The handsome prefect? Well…are there any other guys with the last name riddle in our school? Like is there a guy in our year called Tom Riddle?" Elena asked. She dreaded asking the question but she just needed to know the answer to.

"Elena you muppet, he IS Tom Riddle; Slytherin prefect, our year." Charlotte exclaimed.

Hold on. WAIT A MINUTE. Did she just say? No she did not. She didn't. There is no way in Godric Gryffindor's shiniest, leather boots that THAT GUY was Tom Riddle, future dark lord. IT JUST WASN'T POSSIBLE. Elena had seen Voldemort before, and he looked well,_ repulsive_. Nothing at all like the gorgeous boy who everyone claimed he was. It was impossible. Even sixty years of age can't do THAT MUCH to you. Or maybe he went through plastic surgery to look more evil. Why would anyone want to change as face like that?

The more Elena thought about it, the more the shock sort-of died off. Tom Riddle the teenager was annoyingly perceptive, annoyingly perfect, annoying in all senses of that word, he had that _I'm-better-and-smarter-than-everyone_ attitude, spoke like a smartass, was a neat freak… But that just made him a typical _Slytherin_, not an _evil lord_. This couldn't be right. Was there a photo included in the file that she hadn't seen? It just _WASN'T RIGHT_. Voldemort and attractive just don't go in the same sentence. You just can't.

"Oh," she replied stupidly.

"I am going to marry Tom one day", Lucy sighed. _What was wrong with the girl? I mean, sure I appreciated his good looks, but even before I knew he was evil, even I thought there was something off with him._

Kate rolled her eyes, "Yes, we all know your love Stanton, personally, I don't see what is so great about him. He's cold, doesn't really talk to anyone except Malfoy and his Slytherin tag-alongs, and keeps to himself. I suggest you get your hopes down because he's never even talked to, let alone looked at a girl. I'd say the guy's a poof."

"TOM IS _NOT_ GAY", Lucy wailed.

Elena thought to herself. It was plausible; really. I mean, the guy never loved anyone…what if he was in love with Malfoy or someone…who had a girlfriend who he snogged in front of Riddle all the time and then he got pissed off. That still doesn't explain it. _AHA_! What if the girlfriend was a muggleborn… _and_ Riddle DID have perfect eyebrows; he probably was a closeted gay. But for some reason, Elena thought it was unlikely and probably uncharacteristic…but still, she wondered…

"Girls, what about our Gryffindor pride? We can't all be lusting after Slytherin's we're rivals! I think Charlus Potter is cute…," Beth (little miss perfect) interjected.

"Oooh yes, have you seen his abdominal muscles?" Charlotte giggled.

_Abdominal muscles? She meant abs right? Who the hell calls them that? Right, I'm in 1944._

"Must be the quidditch," Beth sighed, "Anyway, how have you seen his muscles?"

"Oh, you know, we…"

"ARE YOU KIDDING?"

"Yeah, sadly I am, I was peaking in the changing rooms."

"Dirty girl, did you see anything else?"

"_Oh yes_." She smirked.

_Weren't girls meant to be conservative back then? I suppose the books were wrong…Or maybe it was only Charlotte._

"Charlotte, it is reprehensible for a lady your age to have such a dirty mind," Muriel Weasley peaked out of the bedcovers to scowl; looks like _someone_ was eavesdropping.

"You're just jealous Weasley." She shot back.

"Ahem," Kate interrupted, "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to call it a night. Lessons start tomorrow and I'm not going to show up looking like mess in the morning."

"Yeah, because you have so many guys to impress don't you?" Lucy retorted.

Kate rolled her eyes. "Goodnight."

"I think we should all get to bed," Beth suggested. Gosh, her I'm-so-wholesome-and-sweet voice was REALLY starting to bother Elena.

Once she was certain that all her dorm mates were asleep (Muriel was probably studying) she pulled out the file on Tom Riddle. Honestly, she could hardly believe Muriel was a Weasley; she was nothing like any of the Weasley's she'd seen in Hogwarts. There was Ron Weasley, Harry Potter's best friend, Ginny Weasley; who had earned quite a reputation amongst the Gryffindor girls, and there were the renowned Fred and George Weasley who she had heard so much about.

She opened the file and started reading. After she went through every document she realised she felt sorry for Tom Riddle. He was brought up in an orphanage, with no parents to show him what love was, the children in the orphanage probably called him a freak and he had no friends…being a half-blood in Slytherin was probably tough as well. She could see what brought about the muggle-hating.

He was never treated well by them and after realising his muggle-father abandoned his mother and him, because he didn't want them. The lack of love and acceptance was probably what condemned him to becoming a paranoid sociopath.

Well, she would make a start on the friendship thing in the morning- if he didn't annoy her, that is.

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A/N: WHOOT. That's it for the mo' people. *loud boos chorus from the audience*

Well, if you do want an update, click that lovely little button right under this that says 'Review this chapter'...You KNOW you want to. Now for a wee little excerpt from ze next chapter to further boost your anticipation.

EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 5:

_She realised with horror that she was sprawled over him and her skirt had inched up. SHITE, and she just happened to be wearing her very lacy- very translucent underwear that morning. Oh god, oh dear god. If Riddle noticed anything he didn't mention it. Flustered, Elena quickly got up, smoothening down her skirt. _


	5. Potions Partners

**IMPORTANT NOTICE**: Ok, so before you all continue reading, from here onwards this fanfic is going to be CO-WRITTEN with one of my really good friends. We've always been huge Harry Potter fans (and fans of fanfiction…lol, how weird does that sound?) so I really couldn't have asked for anyone better to co-write with me. Anyway, this isn't going to change anything or feel different so you can all continue off to the chapter. I bet you guys are screaming at me right now because you can't wait to get to the bit in the excerpt…well, who am I to deny you the right. Read on my friends, here's a nice looong chapter for you all :)

Disclaimer: We don't own Tom, Charlus or Muriel…or Hogwarts…or any of the teachers…We do however own the plot and any characters you do not recognise.

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Chapter 5- Potion's Partners

"Wake up Elena"

"Mmh, sod off"

"ELENA! DON'T USE SUCH LANGUAGE LIKE THAT! IT'S COMPLETELY UNLADYLIKE AND-"

"Ok, ok, I'm awake, wait, who the _hell_ are you?"

"ELENA! _Language_! We're your dorm mates you know? You transferred to Hogwarts last night."

"Right." It all came back to her. She had gone on her super-secret-ninja-mission to become friends with teenage Voldy, who by the way was a really hot sociopath Slytherin prefect with amazing eyebrows.

She got up, walking up to the shower, only to see a long line of girls waiting patiently in front. Well, things were gonna much different now that she wasn't the only girl in the dorm. After about two hours (_holy shit_, no wonder she had to wake up so early) Elena finally got her turn in the bathroom. Although she had washed her hair the previous day, it still looked like a rat's nest. She rubbed in some of her favourite citrus and cinnamon shampoo and washed off. Ok, now came the hard part, trying to get it to dry. It would probably poof up like last time…But she did it anyway… the weather was freezing and she couldn't be walking around with wet hair. "_Siccus Saeta_"

Poof.

_Fuck. _

_What the bloody hell is wrong with me?_ Elena combed through her poof-of-a-hair only to have the comb stuck in there. She pulled harder and the handle broke off.

_I'm not even going to comment on this now._ Wait, but there were other girls in her dorm now right? Who could help her?

"Um, guys, a little help here please? Charlotte?" She called the blonde girl.

"Yeah, sure…whoa! What did you do?"

"I don't know can you fix it?" Elena asked impatiently.

"Yeah, of course I can." The girl smiled. _I s'pose I'm the only non-morning person in here. _With a flick of her wand, Elena's hair untangled and the comb slipped out. Elena cautiously took a step forward looking into the mirror.

_HOLY SHIT._ Her hair…it was…STRAIGHT. Like straight as in completely smooth and in silky straight chestnut waves. Was that even possible? She was so used to seeing her unruly waves that…she just looked like a whole other person. Wow.

"You have a really big forehead," Charlotte commented.

_Yeah, thank you. Tell me something I don't know._

"Can I try something?" the blonde asked. Elena shrugged her shoulders as if to say 'yeah, whatever, not like I care.'

"_Incidere Saeta_". Elena looked into the mirror_. If she did something to my hair, I will kill her._

"I thought you would look much nicer with a fringe. There, it frames your face perfectly. I think it also brings out the blue in your eyes. You look beautiful!"

_Hah, beautiful, me? Right. Joke's over. _Well, it wasn't that bad. _On second thoughts I actually looked pretty good…well, good as you can get._ She stepped out of the bathroom.

"Wow, you look really nice," said miss goody two shoes..._uhh, I mean Beth_.

"Thanks," Elena mumbled.

_You look ridiculous wearing that skirt by the way._ "You look nice too."

Elena realised with revulsion that the skirts they were wearing were the ones _she_ had to wear too. They were BELOW HER KNEES for goodness sakes. _Well, there's nothing like making a statement on your first day; even if it's not a good one. _She pulled out one of her normal skirts that fell a bit above the knee (which was considered conservative for the society she was from)

"Elena, what on earth is that?" Beth questioned. _Ahh, is was going to be fun._

"It's a skirt." Elena smirked.

"Oh, uhm," Beth blushed, "Don't you think it's a little too _short_?"

"Short? Oh no, I wear skirts like these at home all the time."

"Well, at home you were alone, at school you know, there are boys."

"And that is a problem why?" Elena shot back. _This is hilarious._

"Look Elena, even _I_ think it's too short, and that is saying something," said Charlotte, while pulling on her socks.

"Oh come on, just leave it. If she wants the whole school staring at her legs all day it's her problem not ours," sneered Kate. Well, you wouldn't call it sneering because she had this permanent expression on her face like someone was dangling a particularly rotten piece of mouldy cheesy right in front of her face. And she looked like her wand was shoved too far up her arse.

"Come on ladies; let's go introduce Elena to the boys!" Charlotte giggled, linking arms with Elena. Either a) she was just a naturally happy person or b) the effects of the chocolate from last night were still working.

The girls walked out into the common room only to see a group of boys waiting for them. Charlotte immediately lunged into one of their arms, hugging him for dear life. Uhh, she was in a relationship? Wasn't she gossiping about Tom Riddle last night? And wasn't she spying on some dude changing in the locker room?

Charlotte smirked at Elena as if she knew what she was thinking. 'Don't tell anyone,' she mouthed.

"Morning," a guy who looked suspiciously like Harry Potter greeted, "Aren't you ladies looking fine today?"

"And who's this?" he said, looking at Elena.

"This is Elena, she transferred to Hogwarts last night. She was homeschooled."

"Ahh, I see." Thankfully he didn't ask too many questions. Repeating the story over and over again was just annoying. Elena wished she could just write the whole thing down on parchment once, and if anyone asked who she was again, she'd just shove the thing in their face declaring, 'here is the whole story, just read the damn thing and piss off.' But of course, she'd be accused of her unladylike language and attitude.

Great, he was staring at her legs. Just like the rest of the guys in the common room. Maybe the whole, 'wanting-to-make-a-statement' thing was a bad idea…nah; it'd be worth it to see Riddle's expression.

"Charlus Potter." He said, holding out his hand. _Alright, so this was the guy Charlotte spied on._

"Noah Bennett," said the boy beside Potter. _He was cute actually, with his blonde hair and hazel eyes…but of course, no one could beat Riddle, oh no did I just think that?_

"E-Emery Johnson," the third guy stuttered as he untangled himself from Charlotte's body. Well, anyone would stutter after receiving a particularly public, snogging session by their, she assumed, girlfriend…who secretly lusted after other men.

He quickly recovered however, holding out his hand to Charlotte, "Would you, my lady care to accompany me to breakfast?" he made a little bow as Charlotte curtsied before slipping her hand into his, "Why of course you may, kind sir." Elena noticed Lucy watching them with a jealous expression on her face. Elena felt sorry for her…Lucy really did believe she would one day get with Riddle. That was just, well, _pathetic_.

* * *

Charlotte, Lucy and Beth watched in horror as Elena shovelled food into her mouth. Kate was probably too busy secretly gossiping about everyone with her subconscious mind.

"H-how much are you going to eat?" Charlotte finally voiced what everyone on the table was thinking.

"Until I'm full?"

There was an awkward silence.

"Oh by the way, what classes does everyone have?"

Oh classes, she had completely forgotten about that. Snape had given her a time-table…apparently she was in every class Tom Riddle took. Unfortunately; Tom Riddle took every single class…except Muggle Studies (hmm…she had no idea why…note sarcasm.) What a swotter. To her absolute dismay, that included Divination. Really, what was wrong with him?

She pulled out her time table. Double potions, Double charms, Double Arithimancy, Double Transfiguration.

Not a single free period? Why did Riddle have to be such a smart arse? _WHYY?_ Elena wailed dramatically in her head for a few more moments. Apparently, she was making strange wailing-expressions too because she saw three pairs of very-concerned eyes staring at her.

"Are you alright?"

"See, I told you not to eat so much."

Whatever. The girls were all really starting to annoy her. She grabbed her bag and walked off the table, "See you all at lunch."

She reluctantly made her way over to the dungeons to her first lesson. Don't get me wrong, Elena loved potions, it was probably her best class. But Slughorn, she couldn't stand. Hopefully, he wouldn't put her in the goddamn slug club _again_.

"Ouch," Elena gave an audible groan as she banged straight into another student, knocking him or her- _probably_ _a him from the feel of it_, straight into the ground. Why oh why was she so clumsy? Her mother was perfectly poised, and graceful, and elegant, and everything young ladies should be. She on the other hand was clumsy, reckless and messy.

"Why is it that you are always falling around me?" Elena was greeted by a very familiar cool voice. Great, of all the people she had to fall on it had to be Riddle, the guy she was supposed to make friends with. And it really didn't help that he was extremely attractive.

She realised with horror that she was sprawled over him and her skirt had inched up. _SHITE_, and she just happened to be wearing her very lacy- very translucent underwear that morning. Oh god, oh dear god. If Riddle noticed anything he didn't mention it. Flustered, Elena quickly got up, smoothening down her skirt.

She wished she had a smart thing to say…except she didn't and Riddle was staring at her critically so she did the only thing she thought she could do; she ran off to the potions classroom leaving him to stand there, wondering what the hell just happened.

* * *

She walked into Potions fuming, and sporting a brilliantly red face. She took the only double seat available and sat down. Obviously it was the front most desk in the class; who by the way were throwing her strange looks. She still could not believe what she had just done. She put her head into her arms and attempted to become invisible. It was so stupid! Of course she just HAD to bump into Riddle and nearly flash him at the same moment as well! Why was she so stupid?

"Are you feeling alright, Ms. Grey?"She looked up to see Professor Slughorn's face looking inquiringly at her. Then she did a double take. WAIT, Slughorn had HAIR? And it was BLONDE? Woah, that was wierd!

"Um, yes of course Professor...I just had a bit of a...um...a headache, but it's alright now," she finished hastily as Slughorn's expression had became more worried.

"Alright then, I shall proceed to begin the class. Now, I believe you are new to the school, Ms. Grey?"

"Yes sir, I arrived last night. I was homeschooled till now," she explained. As Slughorn (and, from the brief glance Elena cast behind her, the rest of the unnaturally attentive class) looked at her expectantly, she thought, _okay, okay, tell them the sob story...I really DO need to write this down._ "A week ago, Grindelwald's followers murdered my parents and my tutor and I decided that Hogwarts was the safest place from me to go."

"What a shame, really. But I see, of course. I believe that Hogwarts is indeed the safest place for young people in these troubled times," Slughorn nodded absentmindedly and stared dreamily into space, as if contemplating the wonders which Hogwarts provided. _Looks like his playacting hasn't changed in sixty odd years...ah well...hold on, he's coming back now..._

"And now class, Grindelwald or no Grindelwald, you all are starting your NEWT's courses this year and, especially in Potions, everything will be a step up from the OWL's. Now, to begin the lesson, I here, have brewed four vastly difficult potions..." he trailed off as the dungeon doors opened and a crisp voice interrupted him.

"My apologies, Professor, I got _held up_ at breakfast this morning. The prefects had a meeting to decide our duties for this year and lost track of the time." Tom Riddle's smooth, cultured voice reverberated around the dungeon. He had looked directly at Elena when he said 'held up' and she couldn't help but get instantly reminded of their uncomfortable (understatement of the year) encounter.

His voice and expression, however, were perfect. He had just the right amount of (fake) humility, concern and just that hint of remorse, which obviously had the Professor head over heels, and swallowing the story whole. Because Elena knew he was lying; he had been going in the opposite direction when he bumped into her, and was obviously in a hurry to get somewhere.

_What a great job I'm going here. The first day and I don't know if he went to plot world domination with his Death Eater pals or was actually just in the loo. I should really just go back now._

"Of course, of course Tom. We all get held up sometimes, especially you with your prefect duties. Why don't you just take a seat now. I was explaining to the class the importance of the following two years," Slughorn said, with an obvious twinkle in his eye. It was fairly evident that Riddle was a favourite of his.

"Yes sir," he said, surreptitiously looking around the room for a seat. His gaze eventually fell on Elena, and more importantly, on the only empty seat right next to her. He wordlessly approached her table and took the seat next to her, taking care not to brush her._ Oh no! Why, why, WHY? Did he HAVE to sit next to ME of all people? And I know he's hot and I'm supposed to become his 'friend' but I embarrassed myself really badly in front of him! If there's a God, I know he hates me now. Oh and great, we're probably going to brewing our potions at the same table too…Another way to get embarrassed; yet again. The fates are definitely on my side right now._

"Right, as I was saying, to begin with I have brewed four very special potions for you today," Slughorn said, indicating to the steaming cauldrons placed on his desks. He hasn't deviated from his teaching plan in sixty years either Elena thought dully. _Guess who knows what the potions are? That's right, me! Amortentia, Polyjuice Potion, Veritaserum and Felix Felicis. _She sneaked a glance at Riddle. It was odd, but he looked just as bored as she did. But he hadn't done this lesson before...hmm she was going to have to dig deeper if she was going to get anywhere here.

"Now who can tell me what the first potion here is?" Slughorn asked, indicating to the one that was obviously polyjuice potion (it was muddy and bubbling). Elena decided to answer and raised her and hand in the air, at precisely the same moment that Tom Riddle did. "Well, well. Lets give Ms. Grey a try, shall we? So what is it, dear?" Before answering, she glanced at Tom Riddle and he had a tiny smirk playing across his face, as though he knew she would never guess the answer. Well, we'll just see _Mr. Tall, Dark and Voldy._

"It's Polyjuice Potion, sir," she said confidently.

"Well done, well done," Slughorn exclaimed, looking impressed. "And the next one..."

"That's Veritaserum, sir. The strongest truth potion in the world," It felt good to know all the answers beforehand. Tom Riddle looked shocked. He probably had never had competition before. Slughorn, on the other hand, looked ecstatic and was already motioning to the third cauldron. "Amortentia, sir. And yes, that is the strongest of love potions." Again Elena sneaked a glance at Riddle, and was shocked to see his face tensed (but still attractive) in anger.

_Oh Merlin, I really have to stop now! I can't try to make friends and have sexually inclined thoughts about him at the same time! Alright Elena, from now and no more of this. You are on a mission, and you will stick to it!_ But she wondered what part the love potion had in putting that expression on Tom Riddle's face.

"And so class, we shall now attempt, and mind the word _attempt_ as I doubt anyone in this class will be able to brew a perfect Draught of Living Death. It is ridiculously complicated to perfectly brew..." Again Slughorn stopped midsentence when a Hufflepuff in the back row asked (an obviously intended) question

"But, sir, you haven't told us what's in the last cauldron."

"Ah, my boy, now that is a curious little potion called Felix Felicis." When most of the class sat in confused silence, Slughorn sighed and said "And does anyone know the effects of Felix Felicis?"

"It's a lucky potion, sir. It brings the drinker luck," Tom answered simply. The tangible tension in the room stiffened; it looked like everyone was finally paying attention. Elena was shocked by Tom's placid tone which had replaced his earlier anger. He was tensed again, but this time Elena sensed a difference. There was determination now, as though he really wanted the contents of the last cauldron, as though he'd do anything to get it.

"Absolutely correct, Tom. And that is the award that awaits the two lucky potioneers who manage to brew me the best Draught of Living Death in the hour and fifteen minutes remaining of this lesson. You will be working with the person sitting at your respective table. Everything you will need is in the cupboards. Go!"

The class rushed in a fevered frenzy towards the stores cupboard. "You should know that I intend to win this thing for us, and I would prefer it if I received no distractions or interruptions from the likes of you," Tom said in his arrogantly sardonic tone.

"Well, I would like _you_ to know that you're not the only one good at potions here and I am perfectly able to win this competition on my own. Unfortunately for the both of us, Slughorn said to work as partners, so whether you like it or not, that's exactly what we're going to do." Elena ended on the high note. She decided that Tom needed some putting down here, as his enlarged ego was the cause of him acting like such an arrogant (but still attractive) pain in the arse.

"Fine, fine. Just start it already." A few minutes later, Elena and Tom were both frantically adding ingredients to their cauldron. It still wasn't the exact 'smooth currant colour' that the book indicated was necessary.

"_Add the juice of the Sophorous Bean"_ Elena read out from the book.

"Give the bean to me, and the silver dagger," Tom ordered.

"No, I know the _right_ way to cut it up, I swear there's a trick here," Elena said. She then proceeded to grab the bean and the dagger out of Tom's hands and crushed the bean with the left side of the dagger. Immediately it released so much juice, Elena had to scoop the remainder with a spoon. The effect on the potion was instantaneous. The potion turned the plum colour the book had dictated.

Tom was now looking at her with a half frown on his face. He couldn't seem to figure out how she had just accomplished that.

"And now I hope you'll let me do the stirring as well? There's another 'trick' involved, if you were wondering." Elena snarkly remarked. It felt good to gain his confusion, if not his admiration. _Stop Elena, Stop! You don't need to gain his admiration! In fact it would be better if you didn't gain it at all!_

"Go right ahead," Tom said. He leaned slightly against the desk, and observed her as she deviated from the original instructions and added an extra clockwise stir. He had an inscrutable expression on his face now, which was turning into grudging shock as the potion got closer and closer to the colour of water.

"And, time's up! Lets see who managed the task best, shall we?" Slughorn genially walked around the classroom, generally sniffing and poking at people's cauldrons. He finally reached their table. "My Goodness! I don't believe I have ever seen a first attempt at the Draught of Living Death that was that good! We have our clear winners here!" Tom and Elena looked at the class discreetly (who were now all throwing them looks of deepest resent and loathing) and back up at Slughorn who went up to give them their prize.

"Here you go. One bottle of Felix Felicis each, as promised. Use them wisely" After giving them an enormous wink, he handed them two miniscule bottles full of the golden liquid.

* * *

A/N: well, after all, reviews are the only payment a fanfiction author gets…and it would take you hardly 5 minutes to click that little button and submit a review…


	6. Duels and Meeting Old Relations

A/N: First off, thank you all SO MUCH for your reviews…yeah, I've said this a billion times but they really mean the world to us :) We are so glad you're all enjoying this fanfic so far. Well, without further ado; Chapter 6!

Disclaimer: no, we do not own Tom Riddle (damn.) Nor, do we own anything from the HP world.

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Chapter 6 - Duels and Meeting Old Relations

It had been a week into her new life, and Elena was proud to say she had adjusted very well. She excelled in all her classes (although that was a given seeing as she was repeating the whole year), she was definitely successful gaining many teachers' respects; especially Slughorn who forced her into joining the Slug Club…(again) and she had made a few friends (or so she hoped). However, the one thing she was not successful in was her mission. Sure, she was in every one of his classes but after potions he just seemed intent on ignoring her. Well, that was all going to change after Defence; she though hopefully, entering her classroom.

Defence against the Dark arts was taught by Professor Merrythought, who was absolutely in love with Riddle's _fake_ personality. But then again, which teacher wasn't? Honestly, couldn't they see that he was going to turn into an evil, mutant half-snake half-corpse?

Scanning the room as usual, she noticed a faintly familiar blonde head. _Isn't that the Gryffindor bloke who's friends with Potter?_ What was his name? Oh yeah Noah. _Like Noah's Arc_. Elena chuckled softly at her own (pathetic) analogy. He seemed nice and she was hoping she could actually make one decent friend. She assumed Charlotte was her friend but she was always off in some broom closet snogging her so called 'boyfriend'. Elena rolled her eyes.

"Hey can I sit here?" she asked

The boy seemed deep in thought, he was leant over with his back hunched, his eyes focused on a piece of parchment. Elena then noticed the quill in his hand. He was drawing.

"Hello?"

"What? Oh uhm, yeah sure," he quickly shoved the parchment under his thick textbook and moved over. Elena wondered what he was drawing.

"You're Noah," she stated.

"And you're Elena," he smiled, holding out his hand. Well, this was going rather well. They were however distracted when a short slightly-plump man walked into the room, tapping his wand on the board. A piece of chalk floated up scratching the name 'PROFFESOR MERRYTHOUGHT' onto the board.

"Good evening class, how delightful to see you all back in one piece for yet another year at Hogwarts! How are you?" he exclaimed.

_This guy is our teacher? _Elena thought, _what on earth was Dippet smoking?_

Noah probably shared her thoughts as he too was rolling his eyes. So was the rest of the class…except Muriel Weasley who was positively drinking every word in.

"So Class, I thought a wonderful way to start this year would be to have an inter-class Duelling competition? Isn't that marvellous?" he paused to take in the disinterested and bored looks of the class, "Well I can see you are all very excited, you can start with the person you are sitting next to and the winner will move on, we will keep going on until we reach the final two!"

The class stared.

"Well, stop Dilly-Dallying and start Duelling!"

"Well, let's get this over with shall we?" Elena picked up her wand, twirling it around in her fingers as she faced Noah.

"Don't worry Grey, I'll go easy on you," he smirked playfully.

"Go easy on me? Pshh, we'll see," she dared. If there was one thing that Elena loved, and it was competition.

"EXPELLIAR…," Noah started.

"Protego," Elena quickly deflected the spell before shouting back quickly, "Pertificus Totatalus."

Her partner stiffed up completely falling flat on the floor.

"Brilliant, Brilliant my dear," the professor praised, "Now onto your next opponent."

After beating opponent, after opponent, after opponent there were finally only three pairs left. And Elena certainly intended to win this. The thing was, as Elena had been winning duel after duel, Tom Riddle too was doing the same. And of course they just HAD to be paired up again. Well, Elena thought, it had to happen eventually.

She barely had time to lift her wand when she was hanging upside down from the air.

"Liberacorpus," she thought to herself as she fell back down on the ground. She had an urge to slap that ridiculously shocked expression off Riddle's face. _Does he seriously think he's the only one that knows non-verbal spells? Well, I'll show him._ Grinning, Elena flicked her wand casually as Riddle was thrown back against the wall. His expression was priceless.

_Oh crap. Elena what were you thinking? This is VOLDEMORT he could CRUCIO you like any second!_

Elena took his momentary shock as a chance to hit him with another curse. Well, lets see if your pretty little face can take this Riddle.

"FURNUCULUS," she bellowed as Riddle's face erupted with boils.

"Locomotors Mortis," he pointed his wand at Elena angrily before muttering his counter curse. Pity, Elena was starting to enjoy his new boil-coated face.

She cast the stinging hex, as once again, his faced puffed up. Elena burst out laughing. He really hated losing didn't he?

He raised his wand, prepared to shoot out a spell. Elena quickly ducked, forming a shield around her. However, it didn't stop there. He shot curse after curse at breakneck speed and Elena barely had time to duck, dodge and deflect. Elena felt exhausted while Riddle had no trace of fatigue on his face. Having had enough, Elena yelled out shooting three stunners at Riddle's chest. However, he smoothly stepped out of their way as they hit a bookshelf, desk and pillar behind him.

The floor began to vibrate and Elena could sense the build up of power and realised that she would have to up her game. Riddle's eyes flashed dangerously as Elena taunted him and she knew they were going to take the duel to the next level. He flicked his wand casually and Elena was raised up in the air, floating gracefully like a ballerina. Her eyes fluttered close and face took on a peaceful expression.

For a moment she felt blissfully happy when suddenly the air in her lungs seemed to vanish. She felt as if cold iron arms were constricting her chest and she fought to breathe. Then suddenly, Elena was looking through a long narrow tunnel; as if watching an old film. She was twelve again, and she watched with tear-filled eyes as her best friend was murdered.

_They were in fourth floor corridor. Camilla grabbed Elena's hand and together they hid behind a suit of armour. Luckily they were both small and able to conceal themselves from the Death Eater invasion. Abruptly, a rough hand grabbed Camilla from behind and shoved her against the wall. "That will teach you to hide little mudblood," he hissed with his wand at her throat. Elena felt her mouth go dry and yelled out, "Don't do it! Please, take me instead." _

"_As you wish, little girl," the cloaked figure grinned maniacally pointing his wand at her instead. Elena closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain of death but it never came. She opened her eyes in horror and saw Camilla lying motionless on the floor in front of her. What had happened became horribly clear in her mind. Camilla had saved her by taking the curse for her. _

She brought back to the present and she thrashed about wildly in the air screaming in agony, "STOP IT, STOP IT, NO DON'T KILL HER, PLEASE DON'T KILL HER. SHE CAN'T BE DEAD!"

The image of Camilla's dead body was imprinted in her mind. All of a sudden, she felt that same constricting feeling in her chest and she was once again pulled back into the memory. Her eyes refused to open and so she was forced to relive the worst moments of her life again and again. The voice of the Death Eater was ringing in her ears and she heard the shout, felt the flash of green light and the rush of life when she realised she was alive. But in her place was her best friend. Things would never be the same again.

"NO! NO! NOT AGAIN, PLEASE NOT AGAIN," she begged, "STOP IT! TAKE ME BACK!"

The class was deathly silent as they watched her. The professor was stupefied from shock and was gazing up at her open mouthed like the rest of them. This was clearly a curse the professor himself had never seen in action. Apparently, this wasn't what Riddle expected either as he let her numbly down, his eyes emotionless but his face even paler than usual.

"ENOUGH! ENOUGH!" The professor interrupted recovering from the shock, "It is a tie. This was a bad idea. Mr. Riddle, could you please take Miss Grey to the hospital wing."

Elena didn't dare open her eyes but felt a pair of strong arms lift her up, gathering her to his chest. She didn't need to open her eyes to know who it was. She hated him, she really did. He was a cruel, spiteful, evil, _pathetic_ excuse for a human being. _You don't know what it was like, relieving your worst memory again and again._ She was constantly reminded of the fact that it was all her fault. The killing curse was aimed at her. But Camilla stepped forward and took it. It wasn't right. She didn't deserve to live. Elena felt her eyes well up but she didn't dare let out a sob. She wasn't going to show Riddle she was weak. She was strong, and she had to be strong.

There was one thing that was made completely certain. She was going to stop this. She would stop Riddle from turning into that monster that caused so many deaths. It was all on her now. She held the fate of the wizarding world in her hands.

* * *

Elena woke up in a garishly-white room. A garishly-white room she clearly recognised; the hospital wing.

_Great. First week in school and you've already landed yourself up here._

She noticed that the blankets were pulled up to her chin. That was strange; she never pulled her blankets up that high. It must have been the matron. Seeing as said matron was nowhere to be found, Elena carefully stepped out of the bed and tiptoed out of the room. She was starving and had probably missed dinner.

She must have not been looking where she was going as for the second time in a week; she bumped into a (unnaturally hard) body. She looked up, dreading to look into those painfully dark eyes but was greeted by a surprise.

"Um, hi?" she questioned.

"Hello. Miss Grey, am I right?" the boy she bumped into asked.

"Um yeah, and you are?"

"Luke Colden"

WHOA. Did he just say Luke COLDEN? She glanced at the boy critically, searching for some sort of resemblance. For all she knew he was her grandfather or granduncle or something. The boy had dark raven hair (not her chestnut brown) but he did have her light blue eyes. _Whoa, wierd.  
_

"I was just heading over to the, uhh, kitchens," Elena said, trying to make conversation with so-called- great grandfather.

"I'll come with you"

"Alright…" Elena was reluctant. Her parents weren't really nice people; they were horrible, all into that blood purity nonsense. Who's to say her great grandparents were any different?

She allowed him to trail after her as she reached the portrait of the basket of fruits. She reached out and ticked the pear and the door opened. She was ushered into the kitchen by two very welcoming house elves who began piling the table in front of her with food.

Surprisingly, it was exactly what she had been craving for. Chocolate waffles with maple syrup and vanilla ice-cream. Yes, Elena here had quite the sweet-tooth. But she was one of those few lucky people in the world who could eat as much as they wanted and not gain a single pound.

Luke gaped at her as she finished her fourth helping.

"Well, aren't you going to have some?" she asked her mouth completely full.

"Sure."

"So, are you a sixth year too?" she said in an attempt at mindless conversation.

"Nope seventh" Oh, so he was as old as her. But she was pretending to be a sixth year so…

"Good luck studying for the NEWTS"

"Yeah"

Oh damn, this was AWKWARD… in EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD. They chewed their waffles in silence. Well, wouldn't you find it awkward if you went back in time and talked to your great grandfather who just so happened to be the same age as you?

"Uhm, I heard about your duel today," he mentioned.

_Oh Merlin, did the whole school know already? _This was horrible. Everyone would think she was weak or something.

He obviously saw her grimace as he shook his head, "No, no, everyone told me you were great."

Elena snorted, "If I was great, I would have won."

"Yeah but its…_Riddle_."

"What about Riddle?" Elena asked. She wanted to know what an ordinary student (who wasn't female) thought about him.

"He's different; quiet and reserved. He never speaks except when answering questions in class. He doesn't have any friends and he's just so…intimidating…even seventh years know better than to bother him."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, believe me."

They continued chatting for a while, about mindless things, school, Quidditch, _Luke's_ siblings, _Luke's_ family…etc. Elena had nothing to say about _her_ parents as they hadn't spoken to her in five years. She wished she had someone she could talk to about these things.

"Well, it's getting dark and nearly past curfew. Wouldn't want to get caught by a prefect would we?"

"No," Elena smiled, "I think we should get going. It was nice meeting you."

"Yeah, you too…we should meet up sometime again, you know?" Luke asked.

"Definitely."

Elena came to the conclusion that her great grandfather was pretty cool. He, like her, loved Quidditch. She laughed as she recalled his expression when she told him she liked Quidditch. Apparently 'young ladies' of the age didn't play or have any interest in Quidditch. How sexist. Elena hated how in the 40s' witches were considered the inferior sex. It was preposterous. She walked into her dormitory fuming. Thankfully everyone was fast asleep and she wouldn't have to answer any questions (though she swore she saw a wand flash under Muriel's blanket; she was probably studying.) After slipping into her comfortable ducky-pyjamas, Elena too fell fast asleep as her head hit the pillow.

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A/N: reviews make us HAPPY :D

Thanks to AnonymousEcho's wonderful constructive criticism, we have edited this chapter. We may not have described her actions in his arms yet, but rest assured, there will be a chapter coming up from Tom's perspective where you will once again see this same scene but from his point of view. ;)


	7. Twenty Questions

A/N: To all our readers, thank you so much for commenting, and to our new readers, we are so glad you are all enjoying it. Well, here is the next chapter. We are sure the title should give an indication to what happens ;) ALSO: be sure to check out the previous chapter as it has been edited. :D

Disclaimer: No for the seventh time, as much as we wish, we do not own harry potter. Or Tom Riddle for that matter.

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Chapter 7- Twenty Questions

It was safe to say her mission had completely flopped. Ever since the defence incident, as she now called it, Riddle had been avoiding her like the plague. Every single time she tried to start a conversation he either gave a single one word answer and left or just turned away and pretended he hadn't heard her. She reluctantly dragged herself down to Transfiguration; first lesson of the day. School was, to put it in a word, _boring_. Absolutely boring. What point was there learning stuff she had already learnt? She knew every single charm, potion, and spell…everything they learnt. It was pointless.

She took her regular seat beside Noah Bennett. They had become friends since the...ahem 'incident'. Noah was a nice boy, albeit quiet and shy but she would much rather hang out with him then the girls in her dorm. As she approached him she saw that once again, his body was arched over his precious drawing. Jesus, Elena thought, he was so protective over his sketches; he NEVER showed them to anyone. One day, I will steal his sketchbook, she thought with an evil grin.

"Why are you grinning evilly?" he questioned.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," she winked.

"Why am I getting a very bad feeling about this?"

"Because I _am_ evil," she smirked.

He raised an eyebrow and reprimanded on her language. She simply shrugged and took out her text book. It was a while till Professor Dumbledore entered the classroom.

"Forgive me class, I misplaced my favourite pair of socks and it took a while to find them in my messy room."

Elena stared. Well, she knew Dumbledore was strange but she thought it was an act to humour his students…it wasn't. His usually white hair was red. Yes, DUMBLEDORE was a REDHEAD. And his beard was much shorter than it was in his portrait. Well, portraits couldn't shave could they? Well, if the fat lady could sing…

"Now class, we are going to do a quick review of what we learnt last year. I am sure you all remember the '_geminio_' charm to create an exact replica of an object. Now, this year, instead of trying it out on inanimate objects we are going to have to start applying it to small animals. It is going to be much more difficult as you have to not only duplicate its physical image but also its internal structure."

_Been there done that. _Elena thought lazily.

"So Grey, do you want a frog or a rat?"

"I don't really care, as long as you get it," she replied.

"So I can get anything?"

"Yeah." _Go away so I can look at your sketchbook._

"Hey, bring a frog please," she called out after his retreating back, "I'm deathly afraid of rats."

He brought two rats.

Even before she had a chance to open his book.

Go figure.

She stared at the…creature…in revulsion. Hamsters and guinea pigs she could deal with; they were cute. But rats, they…HAD A TAIL it was a-a thin pink thing covered with fur that wriggled like a worm. It sickened her.

She quickly cast the charm without hesitation and duplicated the rodent.

"Ahh, well done Miss Grey, that was quite some remarkable wand work! Perhaps you could move on to larger animals, you could work over there in the corner with Mr Riddle."

"Sure." This was her chance to somehow finally befriend him. Fat chance seeing as he was ignoring her. Sure, she hated him but she was on a mission here and she knew she would hate him even more in the future. She had to keep in mind that she couldn't let her emotions get in the way and she couldn't let him know he was affecting her.

She grabbed a particularly fully white cat that looked really annoyed (if cats could look annoyed) and walked over to Riddle.

"Hey Riddle"

_Silence._

"So, are you going to ignore me?"

_More silence._

He quietly faced the wall working on his wandwork. She instinctively jabbed him in the back with her wand. He turned facing her, his expression murderous.

_Elena you idiot. You just poked the future dark lord with your wand. He could like avada you any second._

"WHAT," he glared.

"Hi," Elena grinned.

"Hi," he replied bluntly.

"So, are you going to say anything else to me?" she tried.

"I don't know, am I?"

"Are you?"

"We should work on the charm."

"Pshh, the charm, you and I both know we don't need any work on that Riddle." She casually cast the spell, creating a perfect imitation of the fluffy white cat.

"Fine then. What do you want to talk about." He looked really impatient. Like he would burst any second if he didn't rush to the loo.

"I don't know, stuff"

"Stuff?" he raised a perfectly arched, aristocratic eyebrow. _Stop rubbing it in my face that you have nice eyebrows, you minger.  
_

"Ok, I know, let's play twenty questions."

"Twenty questions?"

"Are you going to repeat everything I say and add a question mark?" She retaliated, angry.

"Maybe," He gave a faint chuckle. _BLOODY HELL. Did TOM RIDDLE just smile?_ No, it must have been a trick of the light.

"Ok, well it's like a game…"

"I _really_ couldn't have guessed that."

"STOP INTERRUPTING!...ok so it's like this game where we each take turns asking the other questions about themselves until we reach twenty and we have to answer."

"And why would we play such a futile game?"

"Because we have nothing better to do!"

He seemed satisfied with her answer but didn't say anything. Elena thought she would make the first move.

"So, uhh, my go, so I ask you, what's your favourite colour?"

He blinked, taken aback. He obviously expected a much harsher question.

"I don't have a favourite colour."

"Come on, EVERYONE has a favourite colour!" She couldn't believe it. I mean, who didn't have a favourite colour. It was like this natural human instinct, to have a favourite colour. _Everyone_ had one.

"I just don't, it's not obligatory to have one," he challenged.

"Ok, fine, don't get so touchy."

"I wasn't getting _touchy_"

"Ok fine you don't have a favourite colour, your turn."

"You obviously seem very well versed in all your subjects although your attitude and vocabulary prove otherwise. You can't possibly have had a tutor who taught you so much that you would be ahead of every class. I want to ask, who was this remarkable man who taught you this?"

_Oh shit, shit, he suspects something._ Anyone could have caught her out but him. She wanted to bury her face into the cold, hard table. But that would make it even more suspicious.

He was waiting for her answer.

"Who says it was a _man_?" _Yes, that was my genius reply_

"Was it?"

_THINK QUICK ELENA_

"It was my uncle, he's actually my godfather and he lived with us, he tutored me sort-of as payment for living in our house and…" She blurted out quickly.

Now that's what you call a good cover story. _Kudos to you my brain!_

Thankfully, he believed it.

"Ok, what's your favourite food?" she asked.

"I don't waste time on such frivolous rituals. Food is merely a basic necessity to keep us alive, why bother having a favourite one, you know where it ends up."

Ok, that had to be THE SADDEST thing she had ever heard. So he ate just for the sake of eating? What fun was in that? No wonder he was so thin. Seriously, how could anyone not enjoy eating food? And he thought SHE was pathetic?

"I can't believe this."

"Believe it."

"THAT'S IT. This evening, you are coming with me, to the kitchens and I really don't care whether I have to force feed you but you NEED to eat chocolate chip waffles and ice cream. It is going to be the best thing you will ever taste."

"_Whatever,_" he said, in a tone that scarily resembled hers.

"ARE YOU MOCKING ME?"

"Class dismissed," Auburn haired Dumbledore said.

After sending one last fuming glare towards Riddle, Elena walked out of the room. He just got on her nerves SO MUCH. UGH, there were times when she wanted to throttle him…but unfortunately, there were also times where she wanted to jump on top of him and…you probably don't want to hear the rest of the sentence. (She would never admit it though.)

"three o'clock, three o'clock…" she riffled through her bag, picking up the schedule (which she was still not familiar with). _Perfect, a free period. _She could head over to the dorms and rest a little bit and cool that hot head of hers.

* * *

She expected to enter a room full of peace and silence where she could go to sleep. What she didn't expect was a room fool of giggling teenagers…who stopped silent the moment she entered the room. She had a very bad feeling they had just been gossiping about her.

"So, you and Riddle, is it?" Lucy (obsessive Riddle stalker) asked, the pent up anger leaking out into her voice.

"Um, no? Why are you even assuming this?"

"Oh come on, we all saw you talking in transfig"

"Exactly, Stanton, we were TALKING. Talking is a normal social skill, you should try it sometimes, maybe you would _finally_ get a boyfriend."

_Ok, maybe that was a bit nasty. Ok fine, it was really nasty._ Elena felt worse when she saw the look of hurt flash across her face.

_Oh no, I'm going to make her cry._

"It's alright Lucy, you really are a lovely girl," Beth consoled.

"Look, Lucy? I'm really sorry. Trust me, there was nothing going on between me and Riddle, we were just talking, like how we're talking now."

"The thing is Grey," Kate cut in, "Riddle doesn't talk to _anyone_, let alone girls. For the first time in six years, he's actually having a proper conversation with someone; you can't say no one would assume anything."

"Well, didn't you think that maybe it was because no one made an effort to talk to him? Or were you guys too scared to actually walk up to him and carry it off. You know, he is just a normal guy."

Kate snorted.

"Ok fine, he's not…!"

_This was the reason why he became such a horrible person_, Elena thought to herself, _because he had no friends. Because everyone put him up on some imaginary pedestal like he was god or something. It was natural his ego would blow up. He probably never felt accepted or a part of anything._

"Well, I think Elena and Riddle would make a lovely couple, don't you think?" Charlotte giggled.

To Elena's absolutely shock and disgust there was a murmur of agreement across the room.

Come on, she and Riddle looked horrible with each other. He was an evil dark lord and she was somewhat a rebel. He hated food and she loved food. They would NEVER be able to go out without biting each others heads of. _Nope, not possible, never possible._

"Not happening," She said firmly.

"Ooh, I think someone's in denial"

"Shut up!"

* * *

Later that evening she searched the entire school for Riddle. Every time she made a promise, she stuck to it. There is no way anyone can resist waffles. She would change his mind, that was certain. She searched and searched and searched; searched every nook and cranny of the castle and he was no where to be seen.

But to her surprise she did bang into…

"Noah?" she gasped, steadying the body that just slammed into her. One day, her body would break from all the bruises she received from crashing into so many people.

"H-Hey, Elena, why are you out so late?"

She took in his flushed cheeks and messy blonde hair. And the fact that he was gasping for air.

"Alright _Noah_," she eyed him up smirking, "Who-uhh, _What_, have you been doing?"

"N-nothing"

"That doesn't sound very convincing…so, who's the lucky dame you've been snogging."

Noah spat out a mouthful of pumpkin juice. Ok, fine he didn't because he didn't have any in his mouth. But if he did, he would have totally spat it out. His jaw dropped to the ground, figuratively of course.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Your shirt is on inside out."

"What?" he gawked, quickly glancing down his shirt…which was on perfectly straight and was indeed the right way out.

"Sucker! You checked it."

"So, that doesn't mean anything, you could have cast some non verbal spell on me. I know you're very good at those. And what does sucker mean?"

_Damn, I need to stop using words I hear in those American television programmes._

"Never mind, but I also know some very good mind reading spells…"

She nearly burst out laughing at the terrified look on his face. "Noah, chill, you don't need to tell me who she was. It's really fine…unless she's a Slytherin…she's not a Slytherin is she?"

He was silent.

"OH MY GOD, WHO IS IT!"

"I, uhh really…"

"Ok fine, but you will tell me one day"

"I will," he promised…and walked off…hopefully not to receive more of…whatever he was recieving.

_Well…that was unexpected_, Elena reflected, very unexpected in fact for someone as quiet and shy as Noah to have a girlfriend. Well, good on him, if he did! But if that girl was anything like Marquisse Flint…

Elena sighed. She was never going to save Tom Riddle. She would never make it back to her own time…although she was unsure whether she wanted to return at all. She actually felt like she belonged here. She felt a jingle in her pocket as she took a step.

Wait a second.

She pulled out a small vial filled with a golden liquid. This was it. This was her answer. She just needed a little _luck_ in befriending Riddle and everything would come in place. She pulled open the cork and tossed back the whole potion, and waited for the effects to take place.

* * *

A/N: Free chocolate fudge cupcakes if you review! meanwhile enjoy this delicious picture. http:/img.p h o t o b u c k e t .com/albums/v77/marlena_ (without spaces of course) By the way, the part about Noah snogging a slytherin will become an important subplot in future so be sure to store that in your minds. ;) Any guesses on who it is?


	8. The Clutches of Death

A/N: Firstly, thanks so much for all the reviews. We appreciate each and every single one of them. Now, this is going to be the first chapter in Tom's perspective…no worries because there will be many more to come. After all, who wouldn't love to delve into the head of our favourite Slytherin ;) ENJOY!

DISCLAIMER: Do we have to say it again? Harry Potter isn't ours, as much as it pains us to admit.

* * *

Chapter 8- The Clutches of Death

Tom was frustrated. He never thought a homeschooled orphan like Grey could duel that well. Scratch that, he didn't know anyone who could duel that well… apart from himself of course. He ducked quickly, missing the powerful stunner Grey sent his way. _This is it_. He narrowed his eyes. He needed to do something fast, it was ruining his untarnished reputation as the best student in school. He would not let a silly girl beat him. He recalled the spell he had read just that lunchtime in 'Magick Moste Evile'. Concentrating hard on perfecting the curse he muttered a few well chosen words and sent it her way.

What happened next was far from what he expected and it sufficiently shocked him to drop his wand and walk toward her. She was eerily raised in the air poised like a dancer but somehow it wasn't quite right. Suddenly she started shuddering and twitching. After what seemed like an age she appeared to lose control and started screaming.

"STOP IT, STOP IT, NO DON'T KILL HER, AND PLEASE DON'T KILL HER."

After a minute of wild thrashing, she was once again silent and poised. It was like she was a puppet in the hands of an invisible man. Soon, she began to twitch erratically, her body jolting from side to side.

"NO! NO! NOT AGAIN, PLEASE NOT AGAIN," she begged, "STOP IT! TAKE ME BACK!"

The class was shell-shocked and everyone, including the Professor was speechless with their mouths wide open. Never had they seen something like this. Never had a curse taken this much control over a person.

Grey fell to the ground in a helpless heap and everyone else backed away against the wall, leaving her in the centre of the room with the spotlight of everyone's gaze on her.

Tom took quick steps towards her knelt down near her head. This wasn't supposed to happen. It was like the chamber of secrets all over again. Who would he blame this time if she was dead? The whole class had scene the duel take place, not to mention professor Merrythought. It wouldn't do to leave the castle at such a critical stage. He was _so close_ finally enchanting the diary and gaining his first step to immortality and he would free from the clutches of death which now seemed to grip the girl lying in front of him.

She stirred slightly, leaning toward him and he stiffened considerably. He was brought out of his reverie by Merrythought's voice, "…Mr. Riddle, could you please take Miss Grey to the hospital wing."

He immediately picked her up and took her to the hospital wing, not wanting to linger near the scene of what could have been a catastrophe for him. He could feel her moving in his arms, her fingers intertwining, and then reopening, and intertwining again.

He couldn't fathom what could have happened if she died. Would the blame be on him? Would they find out the curse he used was Dark Magic? What if he was thrown out of Hogwarts? It would be easy to convince Dippet but there was no saying what that _fool_ Dumbledore could do.

_That's the last time I'll try out a spell from that book in front of an audience. Not to mention staying away from that stupid girl._

Seeing that she was shivering, he pulled up her covers. He didn't want her situation blamed on him so he left before the matron could arrive.

* * *

Lunch passed like any other lunch; in the library. Slughorn thought he worked himself too hard while the students were undoubtedly repulsed. Tom brushed past a group of giggling girls as he headed towards the restricted section. The librarian didn't even bother to ask for a signature anymore as this happened to be the hundred and seventh time he was heading that way. Tom of course, used this to his advantage and so the teachers, especially Dumbledore were unaware of his frequent wanderings into the restricted section.

"Horcruxes, horcruxes," he muttered to himself as he scanned the bookshelves, his long fingers brushing the spines of the faintly whispering tomes. As walked towards the end of the row he felt a powerful tug of intuition. There was something stopping him from going forward but nevertheless, he continued on. His hand paused over a suspicious book that had a dark stain on the corner and just as he was about to open it the bell rang signalling the end of lunch.

Now more aggravated than ever, Tom headed for Dumbledore's transfiguration class…how useless it was to go to such a pointless lesson conducted by the old fool Dumbledore no less, when he could be researching in the library. Worse still, Dumbledore had taken it upon himself to investigate Tom's every move.

He walked in, early as usual and took his seat in the front of the room. Soon, it was filled with more mindless teenagers and soon the batty old man himself walked in, proclaiming something about a mislaid pair of socks, confirming Tom's opinion on his mental stability.

Rolling his eyes at the mundane charm they were supposed to practice, he sighed and strolled over to the corner to obtain his animal. He duplicated it immediately and moved on to a bigger animal, which again proved no challenge. Seeing this, Dumbledore sent him to work with no other than Miss Grey who he had last seen lying unconscious in the hospital wing. He did not want anything to do with her.

"Hey Riddle," she said.

He ignored her and continued to replicate the cat…several times.

"So are you going to ignore me now?"

He was interrupted yet again by her jabbing her wand in the small of his back. He turned around glaring; _How dare she. _

"WHAT," he stated angrily.

"Hi." Was that all she wanted to say? That was a waste of both of their times. He could really only think of one thing to say to that.

"Hi."

"So, are you going to say anything else to me?" she tried.

"I don't know, am I?" He answered swiftly.

"Are you?" The annoying girl questioned _yet again_. It was time to stop her before she made a fool of herself.

"We should work on the charm."

"Pshh, the charm, you and I both know we don't need any work on that Riddle."

"Fine then. What do you want to talk about." She could obviously do the spell as well as him. This annoyed him further.

"I don't know, stuff"

"Stuff?" The imprecision of her statement was driving him crazy. What kind of an undignified word was _stuff_?

"Ok, I know, let's play twenty questions."

"Twenty questions?"

"Are you going to repeat everything I say and add a question mark?" _Look here, she knows her punctuations. Too bad she is severely lacking in the vocabulary department._

"Maybe."

"Ok, well it's like a game…"

"I really couldn't have guessed that." His tone was sarcastic.

"STOP INTERRUPTING!...ok so it's like this game where we each take turns asking the other questions about themselves until we reach twenty and we have to answer."

"And why would we play such a futile game?"

"Because we have nothing better to do"

He realised that she had a point. The floor was now littered with white cats all fighting over the one ball of yarn. Would creating more cats really be a good way to spend his time? She took the initiative and started the game.

"So, uhh, my go, so I ask you, what's your favourite colour?"

What kind of a ridiculous _game_ was this? Asking him to answer such a fruitless question. This seemed like a bigger waste of time than creating cats. And that was really saying something.

"I don't have a favourite colour," Tom firmly answered.

"Come on, EVERYONE has a favourite colour!" Evidently, she had some weird preconceived ideas on _regular_ human tendencies which he was proud not to share. He would never waste his time contemplating _colours_ of all things.

"I just don't, it's not obligatory to have one."

"Ok, fine, don't get so touchy."

"I wasn't getting _touchy_" _God she was infuriating!_

"Ok fine you don't have a favourite colour, your turn."

He thought carefully before asking his question, changing the phrasing. She probably wouldn't understand him if he spoke his thoughts. "You obviously seem very well versed in all your subjects although your attitude and vocabulary prove otherwise. You can't possibly have had a tutor who taught you so much that you would be ahead of every class. I want to ask, who was this remarkable man who taught you this?"

He saw her squirming in her chair. _Ahh, I've hit a soft spot, didn't her tutor run away leaving her?_

"Who says it was a man, huh?" Well, what else could it be? _Surely_, he thought to himself, _a woman would never have the knowledge to teach her all that. _(a/n: Alas, Tom too is a sexist pig…well, blame the 1940s)

"Was it?"

"It was my uncle, he's actually my godfather and he lived with us, he tutored me sorta as payment for living in our house and stuff…"

That was interesting, her uncle was obviously a very powerful wizard and he wondered why he left when Grindelwald attacked.

"Ok, what's your favourite food?" she asked.

"I don't waste time on such frivolous rituals. Food is merely a basic necessity to keep us alive, why bother having a favourite one, you know where it ends up."

"I can't believe this."

"Believe it."

"THAT'S IT. This evening, you are coming with me, to the kitchens and I really don't care whether I have to force feed you but you NEED to eat chocolate chip waffles and ice cream. It is going to be the best thing you will ever taste."

"_Whatever,_" he said, in a tone that scarily resembled hers. He had absolutely no interest in taking her up on her request. He had better things to do than spend time eating.

"ARE YOU MOCKING ME?" She shouted out. He turned his back on her indignant expression, and sprinted towards the dinner hall. Having missed lunch, he was after all, hungry and than inane conversation about food had made him hungrier still.

* * *

After dinner, he immediately drifted towards the library, more out of habit than anything else as it was proving to be useless to him. At the rate he was going, he would be older than Dippet before he found the book he was looking for.

He returned to the exact position he was in (a/n: THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!) and looked for the book that he was about to open. (a/n: we could actually make _another_ sexual joke about that…but we won't…) To his fury, it was no where to be seen. It was as if someone had deliberately removed it right after he had seen it.

After another hour of unproductive searching, Tom resigned to the fact that no other book could give him the information he needed. A wave of foreign helplessness washed over him.

He moodily walked down to the Slytherin common room and wrenched open the hangings of his four poster bed. There lying in the silken green sheets was the miniscule bottle Slughorn had presented to him. _Of course_, he thought, this was the answer to all his problems. With a bit of luck, he could find the key to creating his first ever horcrux.

He carefully unscrewed the bottle and took a cautious sip. After nothing out of the ordinary happened, he tossed back the entire bottle. He did after all need as much luck as he could possibly get.

* * *

A/N: Well, there you go. That's Tom's perspective of all the things that happened. Unfortunately, he didn't feel any remorse for his actions in the Defence Duel…but he did regret them. At the moment he has no feelings for her other than annoyance. And it is natural that he only thought of saving his own skin (he is after all a Slytherin.) Well now, both Tom AND Elena have taken the lucky potion…what's gonna happen now? ;)

The title of the next chapter though? _Be careful what you drink, it just might be the wrong potion. _

We'll let you try to think of what horrible things we have in store for our two lovely characters. It could be _anything. _–EVIL GRIN-

Well, don't forget to review! :D


	9. Be Careful What You Drink

**A/N: **Thank you all SO MUCH for the lovely reviews we have received. Hopefully, this chapter makes up for the delay in updating, for which we profusely apologise. I know you all thought the potion was Amortentia but that would just be too cliché. As a matter of fact it is something much worse…

Disclaimer: The website's called **FAN**FICTION(dot)com, _**not JKROWLING**(dot)com,_ so no, we do not own Tom Riddle, much as we'd like otherwise!

* * *

**Chapter 9- Be careful what you drink, it just might be the wrong potion**

Elena was woken up the next morning shaken by a pair of very rough hands. That was strange; there was no girl in her dorm with hands that rough. She blinked tiredly muttering, "fivemoreminutes"

"My lord," a voice insisted.

"It is already seven in the morning, you cannot sleep much longer."

_My lord_? Did someone just call her their _lord_?

"Ok, fine, WHAT?" she glared getting up.

A group of about five, might she add, very attractive men immediately apologised. They were staring at her like she was royalty. Like she was the best thing they had ever seen. Never one to receive such attention, Elena was flattered. It was like they had all just swallowed her love potion. _Weird_.

"Ok it's alright, can you just tell me where all the girls are and what exactly you are doing in my room?"

"Girls? We are your roommates, we have been for six years," the boy answered, staring at her like she had grown a second head.

_WHAT?_

_What the hell is going on? Wait a second._

She looked at the green and silver drapes above her in horror. _No. No way._

She immediately ran up to the mirror.

_FOR MERLIN'S SAKE, THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! _

There was no way this was happening. It was a nightmare and she would soon wake up from the horror she now faced…literally. Her hair was now short, dark with her eyes that same colour with finely arched eyebrows…and bloody hell, she had STUBBLE?

It was official. She was now a guy, namely; Tom Riddle! But then, wait a minute. If she was in Riddle's body, who was now currently occupying her own? _No. No. It cannot be._

"My Lord, we have to go to class. I believe you have…charms first thing."

"Yes...I know...um…why don't you all go ahead and I'll…join…you soon," she tried to inject more confidence into her uncharacteristically deep voice but failed miserably. After throwing her several confused looks, her 'dorm mates' left her alone.

She let out a scream she had been holding in for a long time which came out sounding like a low groan instead.

* * *

Outside, the death eaters paused, raising their eyebrows, "Are you thinking what I am thinking," one of them asked the other.

"Yes, it seems like the Dark Lord is not alone in there if you know what I mean."

"Strange, I've never seen him with a woman before"

"It must be that new girl Grey, he showed an unsettling interest in her."

…

After dressing hurriedly with her eyes firmly shut he ran back into the bathroom. 'Riddle' certainly looked much scruffier than he usually did but it was a look that Elena thought worked for him…strangely enough.

She walked out with Riddle's shirt untucked; his top two button undone, his pants sitting loosely on his hips and not to mention his hair which was in a complete and utter mess. Not knowing how to use a razor (on her FACE) she had left the 5 o'clock shadow on his face that simply added to the overall unkempt appearance.

She walked into Charms, her, or rather, his, stomach rumbling uncontrollably, she felt the entire class staring at her in astonishment.

"Mr Riddle, are you feeling alright?" Professor Flitwick hesitantly asked her. The two deatheaters that had previously been discussing Riddle's 'activities' discreetly exchanged a high-five.

"I'm quite alright, Professor thank you."

The professor continued to look expectantly at her so she added, "I was, uhh, working late last night"

With one last suspicious glance, he let her go. Elena scanned the room for Riddle and to her disbelief she saw her own body but hideously covered in a skirt that reached her FEET, shirt buttons that looked as though they were going to CHOKE her, and her hair in two, perfect braids. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HIM?

She ambled past the staring eyes and sat down next to him, or rather, herself. "What did you do to me?" she hissed at him.

"I could ask the same to you," He replied looking scandalised, "You made me look like a ragamuffin who has been up to no good."

"Well you have to admit, you still manage to pull it off whereas I look like…Muriel Weasley," she shuddered.

"Never mind that but _what happened_? How on earth did we exchange bodies?" He gritted.

"When Riddle and Grey have finished their private conversation _perhaps_, the lesson can begin," the short man interrupted loudly.

They both apologised and consequently sat in obedient silence for the next half hour. The moment the lesson ended they rushed out into the grounds so they could finally have it out.

* * *

"Do these dress robes make me look fat?"

"Ask Elena, she's much better at it then we are."

"Alright, Elena, ELENA!" Someone shouted into Tom's sleeping ear.

Tom scrunched up his eyes, wincing at the shrill shrieking in his ear. _When did Avery's voice get so high? And what happened to my respectful title? I had ordered them to address me as their Lord **only**._

In response to this, Tom woke up, fully prepared to admonish them for their offensive behaviour.

"Come on Elena, TELL ME WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE? Does my arse look huge?"

Tom stood face to face with a very harassed blonde. She seemed to be on the verge of a crisis so Tom decided to just answer.

"First of all, I do not know who you are and secondly, no, your bottom looks _fine_," his voice came out about two octaves higher than usual. What on earth-? He was getting seriously vexed.

"Elena, what _are_ you on about? Don't know _me_? Did you hit your head while sleeping or something?"

"Or maybe someone obliviated her in the dead of night..." a brunette in the corner piped up.

"Well _I_ think that little Elena here is finally experiencing what happens to someone when they overeat at dinner. Their skull just gets thicker and thicker." This came from the platinum blond in front of the mirror.

"Richardson, just shut your trap now, we all know how jealous of Elena's ability to not put on a single pound no matter what she eats, whereas for _you_, well it just goes straight to your thighs, doesn't it?" A very eerily familiar face exclaimed. "Well, I have to go now, Tom must be coming down for breakfast right about now and well, we all know how incredible he looks eating!"

Tom blanched. So _this_ was the girl, who he had seen in alarming frequency, following him from the library to the Great Hall every single day since _second_ year. The recent outbreak of vapid female voices had him momentarily winded.

Utterly perplexed as to why he was surrounded by girls instead of his loyal Death Eaters, he slowly made his way towards the large floor length mirror at the end of the dormitory. He absentmindedly noted that the four poster beds seemed to have grown taller overnight (unless he had shrunk, which was of course out of the question) and were draped with red and gold instead of green and silver.

He carelessly raised his eyes to the mirror. _NO! _This could _not_ be happening! HOW on earth had he morphed from a powerful, attractive, model student into _that annoying Gryffindor GIRL_! And, to add insult to injury, he now was not only a _girl_ but the only girl in the whole school who had beaten him at something and who also liked eating _waffles_ (Tom had no idea why he remembered this or why it was important in any way right now). For several moments, he forced his mind to reject this useless piece of information.

Tom lightly traced a short, slim finger down his or rather _her_ face. Instead of his usual immaculate appearance he was now looking at unruly chestnut waves, pale cornflower blue eyes and a smattering of freckles on HIS nose.

"Merlin Elena, we know you think you're attractive, but we'd never pegged you for such a narcissist." The same platinum blond, who'd seemed to have gotten over her previous embarrassment, was now in full-on offensive mode. "Stop looking at your miserable reflection, and do something about it. If I look at your hair one more time, I will lose my appetite!"

"Well that's not a bad thing at all, is it?" the other blond said. "You could do without those extra pounds"

Tom was about to move towards the bathroom, when he unceremoniously had a towel thrown in his face. Without comment, he snatched it and made his way to the door at the other end of the dormitory. Upon entering the _girl's_ bathroom, he once again stared at HIS reflection. Now that the initial shock had worn off, his mind raced over the possibilities of how he ended up in this _terrible_ predicament. The last thing he remembered doing was taking the lucky potion and then presumably collapsing on his bed.

_Would turning into this mindless girl help me get closer to the horcrux? Does SHE have the book? _Tom knew she was letting on way less than she knew, how else could she be so advanced for her level? _But no, it wasn't possible. Gryffindors, as a rule, didn't dabble in the Dark Arts, and however thick headed this may be, it certainly applied to her._ _But if I'm in HER body, then who was currently occupying MINE? _A terrifying thought came to him;SHE would be in his body.

Someone pounded the door, which was when he decided to get it over and done with. _Come on, _he told himself, _you've opened the Chamber of Secrets, ordered a basilisk to murder a mudblood yet you can't take a shower in a GIRL'S body? You are a DARK LORD for heaven's sake! The students FEAR you! (But not in this body, they don't, his aggravating subconscious noted). _Tom clamped his eyes firmly shut and started the enormously difficult task of taking off his clothes.

He opened his eyes and the sight of his half naked body clad in an obscene garment that only covered his, or rather her _essential bits._ Utterly scandalised, Tom realised he simply _couldn't_ take off those _things_. _That's it. I am NOT going to take a shower. A simple scourgify would have to do today. And I didn't even know that Grey was this uhm endowed in certain areas…for her extremely short height that is…WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, RIDDLE? Get a hold of yourself and banish such indecent thoughts from your mind._

Tom proceeded to employ Occlumency, though after several fruitless minutes he was forced to admit that it was not helping. After dressing in the most conservative and _covering_ clothing that he could find, which still in his opinion were not enough to erase _that_ image from his mind, he went back to the dormitory, only to find it deserted.

He found an open book lying on the floor ambiguously titled "Monsieur Jean-Marc Christian's Guide to Getting the Perfect Styled Hair- _Try a simple charm and you'll have Veela-Perfect hair._"

Raising one eyebrow, Tom picked up the book and found a suitable spell for his now unruly hair. Picking up, what seemed to be her wand, he performed the charm for plaited hair, complete with red ribbons. Tom frowned. His hair felt a little _too_ tight and moreover, his wand and magic seemed less powerful than usual.

Checking the time at the only clock in the room, he was shocked to see that it was nearly time for first period charms. Thankfully, she was in all his classes, which now that he thought about it, was unusual in itself.

Walking slowly, as he was NOT used to walking in a_ skirt,_ he promptly entered the classroom and took his usual seat at the very front.

"Good morning Ms Grey," Professor Flitwick chimed, beaming at him, "I'm delighted to see you finally _properly_ adhere to out dress code."

"Um, you're welcome sir, I guess…" Tom was taken aback by Flitwick's obvious reaction to his ensemble. He didn't know that Grey's dress sense was such a significant point of consternation to the teachers.

As the rest of the class eventually filed in, he heard some curious muttering in his direction and, upon turning around in his seat, caught some looks of disbelief. Two minutes before class _actually_ started, he saw himself _STRUT_ inside! Furthermore, Avery and Malfoy were looking extremely smug about something and Tom was positive he heard a wolf whistle. He would have to have a word with them later… Turning back to himself, he saw more disturbing changes in his otherwise meticulous appearance.

He looked like a _TRAMP_ for Merlin's sake! With his shirt untucked, his hair all over the place and not to mention, his pants half way down his bottom! This confirmed his suspicions on the current occupant of his body. _WHAT HAS SHE DONE?_

He saw his own body prancing up to him, and 'his' eyes were full of anger. _She_ seemed to be sharing his sentiments. "What have you done to me?" she hissed.

"I could ask the same to you," He replied righteously, "You made me look like a ragamuffin who has been up to no good."

"Well you have to admit, you still manage to pull it off whereas I look like…Muriel Weasley," she gave an involuntary shiver.

"Never mind that but _what happened_? Why are _you_ in my body, and I in yours?" He asked.

"When Riddle and Grey have finished their private conversation _perhaps_, the lesson can begin," Professor Flitwick interrupted loudly and effectively ended their conversation.

* * *

After the lesson ended, the both of them bolted out of the castle and into the grounds to have their much needed private confrontation.

In the corner, Avery and Malfoy were beside themselves with glee. "Well, he seems to be pretty regular now. I mean, I thought they were at it just this morning!" Avery grinned sheepishly.

"Hopefully his mood swings will improve from now. You know what, I reckon this is precisely what he needed to release his frustration…Still he might have something to do with her changed appearance…he does have a fetish for neatness, although I have to say, I preferred her the way she was before." Malfoy looked wistfully at the direction the two of them had disappeared off to.

* * *

"Ok, so WHY AM I STUCK IN THIS STUPID BODY?" Elena screamed the moment they entered the secluded clearing in the Forbidden Forest.

"Be quiet, something might hear you, and you might damage my vocal chords by screaming so loudly," Tom informed her.

"I DON'T CARE about your bleeding vocal chords. I WANT MINE BACK!" she continued to vent her frustration by screaming at him, or rather herself. _Merlin his deep voice can really project, not to mention the authoritative quality it has._

"Now, what was the last thing you remember doing in your own body?" Tom calmly questioned.

"Well I was…wait a minute, WHY?" Elena was reluctant to reveal the reason behind her taking the potion. After all she remembered taking it and then had the queer sensation of falling onto her bed.

"I believe it is imperative to know, so we can fix this," Tom said, gritting his teeth.

"Fine, I TOOK THE FUCKING POTION, ALRIGHT?" she yelled out.

"You don't have to scream or use expletives, Elena. And what potion precisely?" Tom asked.

"Bloody hell, _Riddle,_ since when were _we_ on a first name basis? And it was Felix Felicis." Elena conceded.

Tom, mentally cursing himself, merely said "Since we exchanged bodies, Grey. Now, I think that the potion is at the root of the situation, as it is the last thing _I_ remember doing as well."

"Why did _you_ take the potion anyway? Aren't you Mr. Perfect?" Elena remarked.

"I might ask you the same question," Tom retaliated. Upon noticing the rare blush on his own aristocratic features, he said, smirking, "Yes, so I would prefer not to know your reason or reveal my own."

"Well it's obvious what the solution is now. Slughorn gave us the wrong potion; he _must_ be having the antidote or whatever." Elena said.

"Grey, only poisons have antidotes."

"Whatever Riddle. Let's just go see Slughorn now," and she ran off in the direction of the castle.

Tom helplessly trudged behind, struggling to keep up with her long strides.

* * *

Avery and Malfoy who seemed to have been hiding behind the entrance hall door sniggered to themselves.

"Well, look's like everything went as planned, I suppose?"

"Yeah, I mean…they were even faster this time than in the morning."

"I never thought the Dark Lord was the type of guy to go for the fast ones. I reckon he likes it slow and sustained," Avery said.

Malfoy nodded and both he and Avery headed towards the Great Hall. The Dark Lord certainly had some explaining to do. They would confront him about it in their dorm at night.

* * *

A/N: well there you go! Body swapping potion! Next chapter they go to Slughorn to find out how long it will take him to brew the cure (ohhh dear.) And don't worry, this isn't the last you've seen of Avery and Malfoy! They're going to be pretty reoccuring characters from now on! :D Enjoy! :)


	10. The Hangover

A/N: Thanks very much for all your reviews. Hopefully, you'll like this chapter, things get _interesting_ from here.

Do we really need a disclaimer? Just take a look at the past 9 chapters

* * *

**Chapter 10- The Hangover**

Riddle (in Elena's body) wrenched open the door to Slughorn's lavishly furnished office. Elena, having reached earlier followed him inside only to see the Potions Master engrossed in what looked like a Muggle romance novel. _I always knew there was something strange about him…_

"Professor, sorry to bother you, at such an…um…_inapt_ time, but you see, Ms Grey and I have had an unfortunate accident, I suppose you could call it that…" Riddle paused waiting for Slughorn's reaction.

Slughorn, after hastily stowing away the lurid red novel in a secret compartment under his floorboard, turned to them and replied "But, surely you _are_ Ms Grey…what do you mean Ms Grey and _I_?"

"Can't you see we've changed bodies?" Riddle's cultured voice rang with Elena's irritation through the dungeons.

"Professor, I believe that the Felix Felicis you gave us was in fact another potion entirely. It has caused us, as Grey wisely says, to 'exchange bodies' but remain in our own mind and think accordingly. We have no access to each other's memories or thoughts," Riddle said.

After a minute or two, during which Slughorn stood in stunned silence, Elena swore she saw a look of dawning comprehension on his walrus face.

"Oh my dears, I have made a _great_ mistake! I believe the potion that the both of you have taken is none other than the Draught of Somes Verto! I was brewing for the …um…seventh yea-… _the headmaster_ and must have poured that in the bottles instead, as they both look like molten gold." Slughorn finished pathetically.

Even to Elena his excuse was pretty weak, and what he was or wasn't doing with the potion was currently _not_ on Elena's mind who sought only one answer.

"Wait, but you _can_ change us back, right? I mean, there's no way that could be permanent or something…RIGHT?" Elena cut the thick silence.

"Yes, yes of course Tom… uh… Ms Grey," Slughorn said uneasily, "however I'll have to brew the reversal potion which will most definitely take a week or two."

"TWO WEEKS?" Elena, still unused to having a deeper and louder voice, nevertheless used it to her full ability. It echoed through the tiny office causing Riddle to cover his ears and throw her a look of deepest disdain.

"Yes, Ms Grey, two weeks. And now would you and Tom kindly leave my study so I can return to '_Moonlit Tryst upon the Stars_', a most captivating novel which I would heartily suggest you read. I have to find out what happens after the house is burnt for the seventh time."

Exchanging an incredulous look with Riddle (or herself really) they decided to leave the Professor alone, lest they be forced to read '_Moonlit Tryst upon the Stars_'. They had only taken a few steps out of the office when Slughorn's voice rang out.

"Oh and please try to keep up the appearance of _not_ having switched bodies, as I cannot let Dippe…uhm…I mean we can't let anyone else find out as you never know who will take advantage of you situation. Try to learn as much about each other as you can, so as to not arouse suspicion."

Trying her hardest not to let the swear words escape Riddle's virgin mouth, Elena gnashed her teeth in rage. _I can't believe I am stuck in this STUPID body for TWO BLOODY WEEKS!_ _And what's more, RIDLLE IS IN MY BODY! Who know what pandemonium he'll cause in there! Today was just a prime example! UGH! _

Before she knew what was going on, a small hand clamped around her wrist and pulled into a concealed tapestry.

"OI WHAT ARE YOU DOI-", she was about to shout when Riddle covered her mouth with her own hand. "Stop shouting," he seethed, "I've pulled you in here so that we can discuss precarious situation and what we can do about it."

"FINE," she said, "First off, I _cannot_ have you dressing like that. People are going to think I'm some kind of a swotter (A/N: that's british slang for 'nerd' in case anyone was confused)." She flicked her wand, muttering some charm, and before he knew it, the skirt Riddle was wearing had shrunk to a quarter of its original length.

"There. That's good for starters, and about the hair…" After much consideration she opted for her usual side fringe and shoulder length wavy hair. Tom looked down in horror and saw that his shirt sleeves had now been rolled up _to the elbows_ and the top three buttons were _undone_.

"This is not the time for petty details. We have to find out how we are going to keep our friends from discovering what has happened."

"Friends that call you their _lord_?" She asked smirking "Is there something I should know, Riddle?"

"They merely do that to express their acceptance of my superior skill and power," Tom replied loftily. Elena burst out laughing but once she saw his composed look, she realized that he was completely serious.

After throwing her an angry look, Riddle continued, "And pray tell, _how_ I am supposed to walk in this skirt you have put me in. It is closer to resembling a _belt_ than a skirt."

"I am not going to teach you how to _walk_ Riddle, you're going to have to find out on your own, and besides, this is double the length of my usual attire…By the way, nice wand, really, it's ace. It's been working exceptionally well and seems very powerful."

"I know that _my wand_ is better than all the others (A/N: THATS WHAT HE SAID!), I just want it back before you wreak even more havoc with it."

She huffed and made to leave the enclave. "Before you leave, since you got to choose how I'll be dressing in your body, it is only fair that I should do the same."

Without waiting for an answer he said, "Now, I want my shirt tucked, my pants at a suitable level, my hair looking as though it has seen a comb, and my face shaved."

"I DON'T KNOW HOW TO SHAVE!" she cried out. Riddle rolled his eyes and said, "Presumably you are a witch, and hopefully not a mudblood," he ignored her outrage at the word and ploughed on "so here's the spell which will tell you what to do."

After telling her the incantation, she made to leave for a second time but was again stopped. "Your mind seems to not be working today Grey. How were you planning on entering the Slytherin common room? I of course know the Gryffindor common room as you people just cannot seem to be able to keep your mouths shut about it. But I will need the password."

Sighing, she said "Well the password's _bubbletea_ and the entrance, as I'm sure you know, is behind the Fat Lady's portrait."

"Ah, I see. Now the Slytherin password is _the-correct-way-to-create-a-basilisk-is-to-hatch-a-chicken's-egg-under-a-toad." _He ignored her incredulous expression and asked THE question he needed answered. "And _HOW_ are we going to _bathe_? I assure you, _scourgify_ won't take care of it for two whole weeks."

Blushing a color that Tom had never seen appear on his face before, Elena said "Ok, so DON'T LOOK and just um…wait, I know! Disillusionment Charms! Right before stepping in, cast one and we won't need to worry about screwing up our eyelids to _not_ catch a peek."

"I must say Grey, I _am_ impressed. Perhaps your mind _is_ on today. Well, well, we can just go to the common rooms now. And don't forget; meet behind Gregory the Smarmy's statue tomorrow morning before breakfast." Riddle said and climbed out of the tapestry.

* * *

Tom made his way back to that infernal madhouse, or the Gryffindor girl's dormitory. Sure enough, three of them were clustered around a fourth who was eagerly reciting all the times she had seen _Tom_ in school today.

"Did you see how he was dressed this morning? I really think that the scruffy look suits him, don't you?"

"Well, he did look ravishing today, but what brought about such a change in him do you think?"

"Well I'm sure Elena, Ms. I-Know-And-Talk-To-Tom-Riddle would know. So tell us, what brought about the dramatic change in his ensemble?"

Tom just stood there, making futile attempts to get over shock of walking in on a rather heated debate about his wardrobe.

"Well, um, he did mention that, um, he was working late on his uh History of Magic essay last night and so uhm forgot to set the alarm this morning." Tom came out with a flimsy explanation leaving the girls less than satisfied.

"Yeah, just admit you're not as good friends with him as you let on, Elena," the platinum blonde (a/n: just so you guys aren't confused, the platinum blonde is _KATE _and the blonde is _CHARLOTTE_) smirked.

"No, she is- uh, I mean, I am. We _are _partners for potions and nearly every other subject. Riddle just, uh, doesn't acknowledge it."

Tom didn't know why he had just blurted that out. He definitely didn't consider himself to be _friends _with that Grey girl. He didn't even _like_ her…did he? She was _nice _enough, fiercely loyal, disarmingly intuitive...No, friendship is a sign of weakness, he thought to himself. No one really needs friends to move forward or to succeed in life. In fact, they only serve as hindrance.

_But she would make a good Death Eater... _if_ she liked you._

"Right. I really believe you Elena."

Sighing at the ludicrousness of the sixth year girls, he decided to go back to sleep.

"Elena, why are you sleeping in your uniform?"

_Stupid, annoying girls._

He opened her trunk and searched around for something that could be deemed appropriate for sleepwear. What he found instead was an excruciatingly short pair of shorts, with what looked like a strange yellow sponge with a face and a pink overweight starfish on them. (A/N: we're sure you ALL know who they are) After further digging he found a matching top…if you could call it a top. It had no sleeves and no buttons either. It looked short enough to come up to just the waistband of her shorts. Was this the kind of clothing she wore? What if someone saw her?

Gritting his teeth, he made his way to the bathroom and put on the dreadful clothing. It was looser than it looked and it did cover everything which was a surprise. When he came out, no one looked at him oddly and in fact, they all seemed used to the fact that Elena dressed differently.

The rest of them, were decked in long lacy nightgowns except for the blonde who was in some kind of a TRANSPARENT negligee. Tom blinked quickly, erasing the image from his mind and climbed into bed. Saying he was scarred for life was an understatement.

Tom couldn't believe he was going to have to go through this for two whole weeks. He sighed. Let the torture commence.

* * *

Elena walked back to the Slytherin common room where she gave a portrait of some old bloke the password _(the correct way to create a basilisk is to hatch a chicken's egg under a toad)_ and walked in to the green and silver dormitory.

Immediately, she was ambushed by two random boys in her dorm. "WHOA WHOA, BACK OFF. I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU."

"My lord, we were merely wondering what took you so long although we do have a bit on an idea," the blonde one smirked. She immediately recognised that smirk which she had previously seen on one Draco Malfoy. This must have been his grandfather, Abraxas or something, Slughorn frequently talked about him in potions class in the future. She wondered why he didn't mention Tom. Oh right…_He goes by Voldy now_.

"Is that why you have become much more pleasant now my lord?" The dark haired one added.

Elena stared shocked. Did they know about her being in Riddle's body?

"Because you've been getting it off with that Grey girl?" He winked.

"WAIT WHAT?" She screamed as it dawned upon her. THEY THOUGHT she was SHAGGING Riddle? Admittedly on several occasions it _may _have crossed her mind but that was out of the question. This was just too much.

"OF COURSE NOT! WHY WOULD I UHH INDULGE MYSELF…WITH A _GRYFFINDOR_?"

There was a murmur of agreement but they did not let it go. "But we heard you this morning…and saw you run off with her two times today, once in the forest and once behind some tapestry…"

"Oh, that...uhh, we were just talking about…POTIONS!"

He raised an eyebrow sceptically.

"NO, REALLY!"

"My lord this is extremely hard to believe given the evidence."

"Alright, can you stop calling me 'My Lord' please," she asked.

"But you asked us to call you that in the first place…"

"Well, I changed my mind. I now only go by Tom and it should only be fair that I call you two by your given names." She waited as her genius way to find out their names slowly backfired.

They gave her a strange look and walked away muttering, "He's been addled in the brain. I've heard sex can do that to you. Especially in large doses."

Elena put her head in her hands. Great, now she had another thing on her list. To convince Riddle's doormats…uhh, _I mean _dorm-mates that she wasn't _shagging_ Tom Riddle.

* * *

A/N: There, now Avery and Malfoy told Elena they think she's sleeping with Tom...hmm, what havoc will this cause? And does the rest of the school think so too? You'll find it all out next chapter so PLEASE review! Anyone notice the thats-what-he-said about Tom's 'wand' ? ;)

HERE IS AN EXCERPT FROM ZE NEXTE CHAPTUER (fail french accent)

_The house elves brought them immediately and Tom stared condescendingly at his plate of chocolate chip waffles._

_"Go on, eat it!" Elena encouraged._

_He hesitantly took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. "Hmm, they are good…"_

_"Good? That's all you can say?"_

_"Ok fine. They are very good," he took another bite._

_She smiled knowingly. "I told you, you would like them."_


	11. Hogsmeade and Waffles

**A/N**: Hey everyone! Thank you for all the AWESOME reviews! I mean seriously 86 reviews? You guys are insane. That was so much more than we hoped for. We love each and every one of you so so much! And so, without further ado, here's Chapter 11...our LONGEST CHAPTER YET which is double the size of the previous. Hope you guys enjoy the update (and the waffles :D)

**DISCLAIMER **- We don't own Tom Riddle but hey, at least we own Avery who is without doubt, the coolest character in this fic :)

* * *

**Chapter 11- Hogsmeade and Waffles**

After two nights of being roughly woken up, Elena thought she'd get used to it, but was proven wrong. She got up and went through the usual morning routine as Tom Riddle. Of course, showering was possible now with strong Disillusionment Charms, so she felt clean at least.

They had decided to meet behind Gregory the Smarmy's statue before breakfast, and Tom was late. After waiting for another fifteen minutes, she saw herself stumble into the corridor and behind the statue. Elena frowned. Her walk seemed more like a strut, her nose was in the air and her gaze looked disdainfully upon the rest of the students, as if they were beneath her attention. She also noticed that the said students were giving her strange looks and she was the object of many eye-rolls.

She glared at Tom as he approached the statue. "Can you please stop walking like such a snob, everyone thinks that now that I've been hanging around with you, I've become an arrogant toerag."

"Well, excuse me for walking how I normally walk. Not all of us can afford to slouch around like a lazy good-for-nothing."

Elena rolled her eyes. There was no use arguing with Riddle. "So, what's the plan?"

"Well, I think that we should tell each other how we would interact with people in our acquaintance so that there are no misconceptions as to our identities. I really don't want anyone to find out about this."

"Oh…about that…we kind of have a problem…"

"_A problem_? Already?"

"Well, you know those two blokes in your dormitory, Malfoy and the whats-his-name?"

"Avery."

"Oh yeah, him! Well…"

He raised an eyebrow, urging her to continue, but it didn't look quite so impressive on her face.

"They think we're shagging," She said this very fast.

"They think we're _WHAT_?"

"Shagging you know, the thing two people do to conceive a child although usually they do it for pleasure. It is also known as copulating, coupling, or even having sexual intercour-

"I _know_ what it means, Grey. But _how_ did they get this impression? Did _you_ say something?"

"Why would _I_ say something? No, they apparently heard a noise from the dormitory in the morning and saw us emerge from the Forbidden Forest together and…well…"

"Wait _what _noise?"

"Ok look so maybe I screamed when I saw my reflection, but I GUESS it came out as some kind of a…_moan_ or something…"

"Please refrain from making odd noises in the future. It doesn't do any good to my reputation!"

"You know what, I think its done brilliant things for your _reputation_, you know what I mean, its _mine_ we've got to worry about. I don't want everyone thinking I'm a trollop!"

"_How_ has it benefited my reputation? My dorm-mates think I'm a layabout who just sleeps around!"

"At least now no one thinks you're a nancy!"

Riddle was speechless. He never thought that people could think he batted for the _other _team. Well, he never _had _shown any romantic inclinations towards _anyone_.

"Well, lets just leave it at that then. I suppose it could be worse. We just have to make sure that in the future we don't _appear_ to have…engaged in…_illicit _activities."

"Well that's all very well, but we're going to look as though we've just engaged in them _now_. I mean, we're behind a _statue _Riddle! And anyway, what about me? Now they all think that I'm some sort of a _scarlet woman_!"

"A _what?_"

"Riddle have you honestly lived under a rock all these years? A scarlet woman, also known as a harlot, skank, tart, trollop or a slut, is a woman who gets paid or just _likes_ to shag many _many _different men."

"I know, so you mean a _promiscuous _woman?"

"Um, no. Alright this is going nowhere. A _prostitute_ is what I was referring to."

Riddle looked appalled and said "Right. Well…um…I believe that the only way to remedy your situation is…um…well we can decide that later…" And with that Riddle stalked off to the Great Hall, leaving a furious Elena behind.

* * *

Later that afternoon during a free period, Tom trudged down his usual path to the library. As he emerged from a hidden tapestry he heard someone call out…

"Elena?"

He turned and saw a vaguely familiar Ravenclaw seventh year walking towards him. He had no idea how Grey knew him.

"Yes?" He said, in his usual curt tone.

Taken aback, the seventh year said, "I'm Luke remember? From two nights ago."

Tom gaped at him open mouthed. When Grey was talking about being a 'scarlet woman' she must have _forgotten_ to mention her _nightly activities_. But it couldn't be possible, he thought, as he stared the seventh-year down. He thought Grey had better taste than _that._

"Right, right. So, I'm in a bit of a hurry actually so…"

"Don't you remember? We met at the kitchens and you introduced me to your beloved waffles?"

_Oh, right. I should have known it would be about the __**waffles**__ again. If Grey doesn't stop eating she'll end up looking like Muriel Weasley… _Tom unconsciously shivered._  
_

"Oh of course," Tom said much more warmly, "So what did you want to say?"

Looking around shiftily, 'Luke' blushed, "Well, there is a Hogsmeade weekend coming up and I was wondering…If…well, you might want to go with me? I could show you around as I know you've never been before. I know we've only met once but I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since our…night together."

Tom stood there utterly repulsed by 'Luke's' impassioned speech. This was getting interesting but Tom was unduly annoyed as Luke was taking away from his time.

"Luke, I am really sorry but," he tried to sound apologetic, "I have…DETENTION!"

_Of course, I can get away with this. No one would question Grey getting detention._

"That doesn't matter! I'll do it with you! We can still make it somewhat of a date."

The idiot really didn't know when to give up. Tom inwardly rolled his eyes and knew now there was only one way to stop his…advances.

"Actually Luke, I'm going to Hogsmeade with…Tom Riddle.," He said after a moment's hesitation.

Luke was shocked, "Riddle? As in the guy who _cursed _you a few days ago in Defence Against The Dark Arts? Are you sure it is safe to go out with _him_? Elena trust me, the bloke is _no good_."

"Well, actually, _Tom_, is a perfectly fine person. He didn't _mean_ to curse me…it was just in the…moment of the duel…and it didn't do any resulting damage, did it?"

Tom was outraged that some lowly faceless student dared to insult him to his own face.

Luke raised an eyebrow and said, "Well, don't come crying to me when things don't work out. The lad hasn't showed any interest in _anyone_ for _six years_ and there is no way he does not have an ulterior motive for asking you out. I thought you were better than all those girls that fawn over him but clearly, you're not."

"You know what Luke; I think our conversation has finished here as I have no desire to speak to you any longer. Now excuse me I actually have work to do." Tom resisted the urge to curse him into oblivion as the git walked away.

Tom suddenly realised that now he would _actually _have to go to Hogsmeade with Grey as no doubt Luke would be on the lookout. He would have a hard time explaining that to her…

* * *

Elena walked out of Arithimacy and tried to catch up to Riddle but he seemed to have disappeared as soon as he stepped out of the classroom. She went to the Slytherin common room and took the best seat by the really small fire compared to the Gryffindor common room. The seats looked more for show than actual sitting. They were elaborately carved and had snake motifs _everywhere._ It was getting a bit creepy actually.

She sat down and closed her eyes. It would be a very long two weeks till she finally returned to her own body. Well, at least, she might take the opportunity to learn more about Riddle. She did after all have a mission to complete.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of two admittedly pretty Slytherin girls. They stopped laughing and upon catching sight of her, their eyes narrowed dangerously into slits. Well, she could see the same jealousy that was in Lucy, in them. She ignored them until she overheard her own name being hissed.

"…_just shagging him. I bet, she's gotten bored of all the Gryffindor boys so now she's coming after Tom Riddle."_

"_Yeah, I heard she slipped him a love potion, I mean, there is NO WAY, Riddle would fall for that."_

"_I agree but if I were her, I would actually try to stay with him. After all, he is quite a catch."_

"_Oh, but you never know these skanks. The just hanker after one thing and once they have it, they leave."_

"_What a minger."_

"_Agreed."_

Elena sat there in shock. Her situation was getting very bad indeed. Now everyone, or at least everyone in Slytherin, _really_ thought she was a cheap harlot. _How can I reverse the situation? _She thought hard and the answer came to her in one glorious inspirational stroke.

* * *

Once she was done with dinner, Elena motioned subtly to Riddle across the Hall to follow her out. Thankfully, no one noticed _this_. She left quietly and before long, he too followed, finally finding her at the library.

After casting a silencing charm, around them, Tom finally broke the silence.

"Grey. We might have another little 'situation' here."

"Wait, what happened now?"

"Do you know someone called _Luke_ by any chance?"

"Yeah! He's my grandfa-…friend…we…ate waffles together when WE were supposed to be doing that instead."

"Yes…well…He asked you…well, _me_ out to Hogsmeade this weekend…"

"He, WHAT?"

"Yes, and I said no because he was aggravating me," he said.

"And _how_ did you say no exactly?" Elena asked fearing the worst.

"Well, I may have…_hinted_ that you and _I_ would be going to Hogsmeade…together…"

If Tom expected her to be furious, he was disappointed. Elena was taken aback but now she saw how this fell in well with her own plans.

"Riddle, what if we _pretend_ we actually liked each other and did go together? That way my reputation wouldn't be tainted as I would _actually_ be your girlfriend and everyone would anyway think we would get married after school ends and they wouldn't question the…_illicit_…activities like you said because they would expect us to…take part in them…" **(A/N: In the 1940s, usually people got married very early and only slept with their future spouses because this is high class pureblood society here. So, most students would assume that since it is already their sixth year and if they have a lasting relationship, they continue it on for life.)**

"I suppose that could work, although it would be a waste of time keeping up our false relationship for another year."

"Well, I think we're going to be seeing a lot of each other for the next two weeks and maybe after that…"

"What are you insinuating?" He asked suspiciously.

"Well, we might become friends right? And then we would hang around each other so it would seem that we're going out."

"I don't have time or space for _friends _in my life, Grey."

"Yeah, whatever, let's just concentrate on getting through these two weeks first," she quickly replied.

"And that includes going to Hosmeade on Saturday?"

"I suppose. Let's meet at the entrance hall on Saturday at nine after breakfast and then _you_ can show me around Hogsmeade. I've heard it's the only completely wizarding settlement in Britian."

"Do I actually have to show you around? Can we just go our separate ways once we've reached?"

"No. I don't know my way around, remember? And I think _you_ would look really stupid asking stangers for directions seeing as I'm in _your_ body at the moment."

Tom sighed in defeat. "Alright, I'll see you then."

* * *

The next few days flew by surprisingly quickly and all too soon it was Saturday. Tom woke up dejectedly. He would have to spend yet another unproductive weekend, when he could have been searching for the elusive book, that held the key for his first step towards immortality. Funnily wenough, he had not thought about his personal quest for power. The diary lay untouched in his trunk. Suddenly, a deep fear gripped Tom. _What if Grey finds the diary? It was enchanted but I have no idea if she can break through. She has already shown exemplary skill._

Dismissing the issue for the moment, Tom got out of bed wearily and walked to the bathroom. After washing, he rummaged through Grey's trunk looking for something to wear. After pulling out a surprising amount of Muggle clothing he finally found a suitable dress and a matching trench coat. He was about to leave the still-sleeping dorm when a shrill voice screamed "WHAT ARE YOU _WEARING?"_

The blonde (now obviously wide awake), who he had learnt was called Charlotte said, "Aren't you going with _Riddle_ today? You can't be going in THAT. There is NO WAY I, as a friend, will let you go out looking like a hag trying to dress like a vampire."

"What's wrong with it?" Tom asked impatiently.

Charlotte simply waved her wand. The black dress, instead of skimming the floor now settled just above his knees. His trench coat took on a cream-brown colour and his shoes were replaced by knee-length brown chestnut boots.

"There you go! Now take a look at yourself in the mirror."

Tom hesitantly looked at his reflection. _Well, Grey looks decent for a change I suppose._ He turned back to Charlotte, thanked her and was about to leave when he was stopped for the second time.

"_So,_ you're going with _Tom Riddle_ today?" Lucy, as he knew her to be his stalker, acidly asked.

"Yes, I was just about to leave, so if you'll excuse me…" Tom had no time for her today.

"Fine. But now I know to never take your word for something. You _specifically _told me you and Tom were friends, and nothing more, but now you're going with him to _Hogsmeade!_ The height of the cheek!"

Tom did not bother answering and just swung open the door and stormed out of the dormitory and into the common room. He was greeted by Potter and his crew who gave him wide-eyed stares and admiring glances. Noah Bennett, whom who knew to be Grey's friend, said "Hey, looking good today _Elena_! Hear you have a big date? So you'll be going to Madame Puddifoot's as usual?" He threw a wink at Tom.

"No, no, Tom is going to show me around."

"Ohhh, so it's _Tom_ now is it?"

Tom was yet again rendered speechless and answered, "Well yes, we are…courting…so we should be on a first name basis."

Bennett nodded before giving him another wink, "Well, best be on your way now, don't keep _Tom_ waiting."

Tom rolled his eyes and walked out, not knowing why everyone was making such a big fuss over this. He went to the breakfast hall, had his usual breakfast of two slices of toast and plain black tea. He saw Elena across the hall stuffing herself with bacon, eggs, and the customary waffles.

Finally the time came for the two of them to meet at the entrance hall. He walked up to her (or rather himself) very conscious of the fact that the whole school (including several of the professors AND Dippet) staring at them.

"I will take your hand, act normal," she said out of the corner of her mouth. She did and someone wolf-whistled in the background. Tom groaned. Once he was back in his own body Avery and Malfoy were _dead_.

They hurriedly walked out of the front door and into the path descending into the snowing village. As soon as they were out of sight, Elena quickly let go of his hand (or rather her hand, but whatever, it was still awkward.) To ease the tension she said, "So…where are you going to show me to?"

"Well, we can go to Scrivenshaft's first as I need a new quill…"

"Are you bonkers? Isn't there like some sort of a sweet shop?" She asked, waiting expectantly for him to mention Honeydukes. She had been aching for one of those chocoballs with strawberry mousse and clotted cream ever since she had arrived.

"Yes, it's called Honeydukes and alright we will go there, but first we go to Scrivenshaft's."

"Ok, _fine._"

After spending, what were to Elena, fifteen boring minutes examining quills at Scrivenshaft's, Tom finally took the right turn into Honeyduke's. Out of the corner of her eye Elena recognised Zonko's except it wasn't as bright and the tricks seemed kind of childish to say the least.

Elena threw open the door into Honeydukes and was transported into heaven. She rushed in, snatching multiple packets of sweets at a time, and gushing loudly over the new fudge that they had just launched. She was impervious to Tom's murderous glares and the school crowd that was astonished to see Tom Riddle acting like a _child_ in the sweet shop.

Tom was horrified at her behaviour and dragged her into the Honeyduke's cellar for a brief, but necessary conversation.

"What are you doing? Why are you acting as if you've never been in a sweet shop before? Can't you see what this is doing to my reputation? People now think that _I'm_ a greedy person confronted with toffee!"

"Oh…whoops…well, not many people saw did they?"

If Tom's glare was a curse, she would have died ten times over.

"Alright, alright, I won't do it!"

* * *

"Hey, Abraxas," Avery whispered gleefully.

"What?" he whispered back.

"Guess who is prancing about the shop like a nutter?"

"Who?"

"Riddle! As in,Voldemort, our Lord!"

"What? No!"

Sure enough, when Abraxas looked across the aisle, there was Tom Riddle running up and down grabbing anything edible, which in this case meant _everything._

A few minutes later, they saw Grey dragging him into the cellar. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Gavin?" Malfoy asked.

"What? That our Lord has finally realised chocolate makes a good aphrodisiac?"

"I was going to say, that he's been getting way too much shagging for his own good but I suppose that might explain why he's been running around buying chocolate like a maniac."

* * *

Tom and Elena walked out of the cellar of Honeydukes and Elena reluctantly purchased a _quarter_ of her original amount of chocolate.

"That's it, we are going back. I cannot take all these people _staring_ at my body. Look what you've gone and done, the whole school thinks I'm a lunatic!"

"Well sorry! Don't get your knickers in a twist, they'll just assume it's a side effect of our relationship and it will wear off."

Tom buried his face in his hands. This girl was out to ruin his life.

"Ok, I'll make it up to you. Let's go back to the Castle now. No one will be there and we can sneak into the kitchens and have some butterbeer while I try to persuade you to have some chocolate chip waffles."

Sighting wearily, Tom agreed seeing as there was no other option. Anyway, he preferred the empty castle to the bustling crowd at Hogsmeade.

As they walked back, Elena saw a fourteen year old Hagrid (although he was already about seven feet tall) trying to persuade a hooded stranger into giving him what looked like a box full of doxy droppings in exchange for a werewolf cub. Shaking her head, she asked Tom, "Is that a student? Does he live in that little hut?"

"That's just Hagrid," Tom said scornfully, "He was expelled last year for setting a beast on the school to kill all the mudbloods. _I _was the one who found out and accordingly informed the school. Unfortunately, _Dumbledore_ decided to train him on as a gamekeeper."

"Really?" Elena asked suspiciously, "He doesn't look as though he would intentionally hurt anyone." _Unlike some people_ she added in her mind.

"Yes," Tom quickly said, "but first impressions can be misleading."

"They certainly can," said Elena thinking of her own first impression of Riddle.

Once they reached the portrait of the fruit basket, Elena tickled the pear and let the two of them in. Tom had obviously no idea a kitchen even existed in Hogwarts to which Elena had replied, "Well, the house elves can't just conjure up the food, It defies Gamp's Law."

She ordered a butter beer for herself and Tom although he insisted that he didn't want it. And of course, some waffles.

The house elves brought them immediately and Tom stared condescendingly at his plate of chocolate chip waffles.

"Go on, eat it!" Elena encouraged.

He hesitantly took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. "Hmm, they are good…"

"Good? That's all you can say?"

"Ok fine. They are very good," he took another bite.

She smiled knowingly. "I told you, you would like them."

Tom inwardly cursed himself. Why was he spending his day with an Elena of all people eating _waffles_ of all things. And since when did he call her Elena? She was just an annoying girl who he was stuck with for two weeks. _But you don't still think she's annoying do you?_ A snarky voice in the back of his head said.

After a comfortable silence and a lull in conversation, the two of them got up and left the kitchen but not after Elena had profusely thanked the house elves.

"Well, I suppose this is goodnight," said Tom once they had reached the entrance hall again. They were about to leave when they noticed most of the students had returned from Hogsmeade and someone who sounded suspiciously like Avery yelled out, "KISS HER!"

Tom's hand twitched to his wand and he silently cast a non verbal spell on Avery that caused his tongue to stick to his mouth as he gagged before uttering another word.

Elena too seemed annoyed and after exchanging a meaningful look with Tom she shouted out, "Keep your fantasies to yourself Avery! We know you're jealous!"

The students in the vicinity laughed and Avery turned a bright red, although that might have been because he was gagging on his tongue...

"I'll see you tomorrow," Elena said.

"Alright, goodnight…and thanks for the waffles by the way, they were better than I expected," he replied with a slight smile.

And with that, the two of them went their separate ways with mixed feelings about the day.

* * *

**A/N:** Awww, don't you just love them? Well, rest assured everything won't stay fluffy and happy for long...*mwahaha* For quicker updates press that cute little button that says 'review'. We just can't resit Avery and his snarky remarks. Oh, and to celebrate Harry, JK Rowling and Joey Richter's birthday we made BUTTERBEER using the recipe from mugglenet (it's the first one on google.) It tasted HEAVENLY and exactly like how we imagined butterbeer to taste like so we're reccomending you ALL try it out :)

**And now, for a tantalising little excerpt to last you guys the week till we update again...**

_"And that's a hundred and ten to thirty to Gryffindor, the snitch evading capture by both teams' seekers. Although most of the credit does go to all the Gryffindor chasers for those goals, I must say that one of them is taking all of it. I swear, if Davies does the Wronski Feint one more time, a move that it only supposed to be used by the Seekers, I will personally fly out onto the pitch and throttle him!" - _Guess who's commentating? Yep, that's right. None other than...

...

Well, you'll find out next chapter.


	12. Cupid Quaffles and Dark Magic

**A/N**: WE'VE _FINALLY_ REACHED 100 REVIEWS. Excuse the caps but you guys have to understand, we've just reached a MILESTONE. Each and every one you guys is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING and we are so so so so so so so so THANKFUL of all your dedicated reviewing ESPECIALLY those who have stuck by from the beginning. Hermitt, you were our first reader and your first review really really motivated us. Nicky and flyingcrispi, I've particularly enjoyed both of your reviews as well and I thank you both for sticking by. And EVERY OTHER REVIEWER: sakuramiyuki0 (ayumistar00), lunahermionemalfoy, AnonymousEcho (we miss your lovely reviews), sexibeast (you know we love you), watergoddesskasey, Elle Q Kaye, Mask With A Truth, thedeathchandelier, fatgirlslim, Hao's Anjul and of course the 100th reviewer who I will mention anyway despite the anonymous review: My Immortal. (Ironic how that's the title to pretty much the worst (and best) harry potter fanfiction ever written?)

ANYWAY

We fucking love every single one of you.

YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING AND YOU MAKE US FEEL SO SPECIAL. We really hope you enjoy this update, we are trying our hardest and can't please all of you at the same time. This chapter starts out light-hearted but ends decidedly darker than the rest. The story is going to get darker as Tom continues pursuing dark magic which will ultimately lead to him creating his first horcrux (unless Elena stops him). We know some of you feel like the whole dating thing was too fast but when the whole school thinks you are shagging would you rather be renown for being a slut or would you take desperate measures to rectify the situation? They still don't like each other yet but are slowly beginning to consider each other friends. And we all know friendship is the first step to love ;)

Now, I have rambled for a very long time but hey, it's part of my mandatory speech as fanfiction writer. Well, I will bore you no longer and without further ado; THE CHAPTER…

**Disclaimer**: just look at the past 11 pages

* * *

**Chapter 12- Cupid Quaffles and Dark Magic**

"Elena! Elena! Wake up, we're going to be late for the first quidditch match of the season!" The blonde he now knew to be Charlotte yelled into Tom's ear.

"Do we have to?" He asked tiredly, "There is no point in watching such a useless sport. I have to be at the library anyway."

"It's SATURDAY! And not to mention, we get to see a load of fit blokes on broomsticks."

Tom shuddered inwardly. Was this all that the girls in Grey's dormitory talked about?

Tom wearily answered, "But I have a boyfriend and anyway he's not on the team."

"Don't be such a _nun_ Elena. Just because you are going out with him does not mean he owns you. Besides, he'll never find out, will he? And Pierce Davies is playing as well. Don't you want to see him?"

_Davies? That arrogant little swot with more air in his head than Charlotte and his stalker Stanton put together. I can never understand women._

He got up attempting to get out of the room before he could be persuaded otherwise. "Oh no way, Elena. You have to support Gryffindor!"

"Yeah! And it's the first match, you've got to show up!"

"You can borrow my red and gold scarf," Stanton threw him a scarf. He jumped, not wanting to touch anything that was hers.

Nodding in defeat, he got dressed and followed the herd down to the Great Hall. Across the table, he saw himself decked out in red and gold, complete with face-paint and a huge banner that floated above his head reading 'GO, GO, GRYFFINDOR'.

For the second time that week, people were staring openly at what they thought was _Tom Riddle_, King of a Slytherin, the heir in fact, who never attended any quidditch matches let alone _supported_ the _other_ team.

Tom marched from the Gryffindor table to where Grey was tucking in to a large plate of kippers and eggs. He grabbed her arm and pulled her from the table into the deserted entrance hall without a word.

"Are you _insane_? Are you purposely trying to embarrass me by ruining my reputation?"

Looking utterly nonplussed (something that was _rarely_ seen on Tom's haughty countenance) she replied, "What are you talking about?"

"Look at yourself Grey. Don't you have an ounce of dignity? How can you wear _Gryffindor colours_? I thought we weren't supposed to change bodies. You've all but announced with a loud _sonorous_."

"Oh, right. I didn't realise I was in your body."

"You woke up in a Slytherin dorm you shared with Avery and Malfoy and _yet_ you _forgot_?"

"Alright, fine, it was my fault. But don't worry I'll fix it in a minute." She waved her wand and everything remained the same except the red was changed to green and the gold to silver. Her banner now read, 'Snake Power, We'll Slither to the Finals'.

"You cannot be serious. Remove that banner before you humiliate me in front of the entire school for the third time this week."

"Ok fine, ruin my fun. It's just showing a little team spirit which you _obviously_ lack," she said huffily. Nonetheless, the banner vanished with a wave of her wand and she was left wearing only the scarf (her garish face paint was also gone).

"That's better. Now, please don't do anything…don't even think of doing anything because you will probably end up carrying out."

"Yes master," she said sarcastically as she bowed mockingly.

And with that, she walked away. Tom rolled his eyes. That girl would never stop being a nuisance.

He walked back to the Gryffindor table, and had his breakfast (one toast and some pumpkin juice) before he was dragged away to the Quidditch stands. He was sick and tired of being manhandled and if he hadn't been stuck in the Grey girl's body he would have hexed each and every one of those foolish girls to no end.

* * *

"And that is ten _more_ points to Gryffindor, those unworthy, filthy _tossers_, with…"

"That's ENOUGH Avery!" The magical megaphone was snatched out of Avery's hands by Professor Merrythought. The sniggers that arose amongst the Slytherin couldn't be drowned out, however. As play resumed, Merrythought grudgingly handed over the megaphone to Avery, with strict instructions to not be partial.

"YES, Malfoy's in possession of the Quaffle! Come on Abraxas, SCORE!..Ah, no just snatched out of his hands by Davies. Urgh, that idiotic son of a…"

"AVERY! One more time, and the megaphone will be confiscated!"

"Alright, alright, I was just telling it like it was, Professor! Gryffindor in possession. And _what_ is Davies doing by the hoops? Was that actually a _twirl _in midair? Perhaps Davies should audition for the ballet next time!" This brought out jeers and catcalls from the Slytherins and embarrassed looks from the Gryffindors.

Tom rolled his eyes, as the Gryffindor Chaser acted like an idiot in front of the crowd. He noticed with horror that despite this display of pigheadedness, _every_ girl in the crowd was gazing up at him with infatuated adoration.

Not knowing what to expect, and very scared at what he might see, Tom looked at Grey from across the stands to where she sat. He saw, with relief, that she was rolling her eyes in disgust, and was obviously uninterested and aware of Davies' true disposition as resident-twat.

Just then, another Gryffindor chaser (Algie Longbottom) scored their seventh goal, as the Gryffindor stands erupted into cheers.

"Oi, Grey, you sure your boyfriend's not a Gryffindor in disguise? Seems to be cheering louder than our whole stand!" Noah called out from behind Tom. Tom looked at Elena and saw her jumping up and down on her seat in elation as she screamed and whistled for the Gryffindor team.

Furious, Tom silently cast a hex on Grey, that gave her a much needed shock and thankfully shook her out of her ecstatic reverie. She sat down and eyes narrowed, she glanced around for the caster of the hex until she saw Tom's murderous glare. She hastily rearranged her physiognomy from gleeful joy until it registered nothing more than disinterest and slight disappointment.

Looking back at Tom, who gave her a look of deepest disdain, she stuck her tongue out at him. Then, not daring to look back, she left the match before Tom could curse her again.

"And that's a hundred and ten to thirty to Gryffindor, the snitch evading capture by both teams' seekers. Although most of the credit _does_ go to _all_ the Gryffindor chasers for those goals, I must say that _one_ of them is taking all of it. I swear, if Davies does the Wronski Feint _one more time_, a move that it only supposed to be used by the Seekers, I will personally fly out onto the pitch and throttle him!"

_How long will the torture last? I cannot endure this anymore! And it is not fair that Grey gets to leave the match, while _I_ sit here having to watch Davies' nauseating display._

Play resumed for some time, with Davies not doing anymore Wronksi Feints. Then, when Gryffindor were two hundred points up, _it_ happened.

"What this? Has the Gryffindor chaser lost his mind? _What_ is he doing?" Avery yelled into the megaphone.

Tom looked up to see Davies hovering above the Gryffindor stands, _directly_ in front of him and with Quaffle in hand, descended to his eye level. Not saying a word, Davies took out his wand from the back of his robes, and scratched the words onto the Quaffle. Turning it around, Davies showed it to Tom, who read "Hey Grey, I'm Pierce, Pierce Davies." With that, he threw a signature wink at Tom and flew away, which caused Lucy to swoon and fall into Tom's lap and Kate to turn green (figuratively) with jealousy.

Tom could barely conceal his revulsion, nor could Avery, who shouted out "Oi, what's he playing at? That's a foul. No writing on the QUAFFLE! Penalty to Slytherin!"

Finally deciding that he had had enough, Tom stood up and calmly walked out of the stands. Three whole hours had passed by since the match had begun as the seeker's were both inapt and unable to catch the snitch. Tom rolled his eyes, _how hard is it to catch a flying ball_?

He made his way to the library hoping to get some reading done before Lunch. When he walked in he saw to his immense surprise, Grey sitting on a couch at the corner of the library engrossed in a book.

He walked up to her and asked, "Could you care telling me _why_ you were cheering for Gryffindor? Even your best friend Bennett, _Noah_ as you so preciously call him, has started to suspect something is amiss."

"Sorry, I forgot alright. Besides, everyone else was too caught up in that pigheaded git Davies."

"Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you," he said angrily, "That 'pigheaded git' Davies flew up to _ME_ during the match and introduced himself by writing on the quaffle, 'Hi, I'm Pierce, Pierce Davies."

"What? That's all?"

"No. He also had the indecency to _wink_."

"WHAT? Why though? Doesn't everyone think we're going out?"

"Yes they do. However, Davies apparently doesn't care and now this has caused a huge scandal which Avery is magnifying by making it seem much more than that," he answered.

Elena sighed. Even he could see that she was beginning to get tired of these stupid scenes that kept happening. The sooner they got back in their own bodies, the better. He did not want to handle a hormonal male teenager of all things. However a small part of him did feel sorry for Grey and what she'd have to deal with once she's back.

"Ok, I'm reading, go away," she finally said, "We can sort this out later."

"Fine, see you after dinner."

* * *

Tom walked up to the aisle at the restricted section and aimlessly searched under 'Dark Magic'. He knew it wouldn't be there as it hadn't been for the past week but there was for no harm in trying.

He picked up _Magick Moste Evile_ and flipped through it. Again there was that tantalising hint that stated, "_Of the Horcrux, wickedest of magical inventions, we shall not speak nor give direction–"_

There had to be some other book, one that did have instructions. Tom had nearly reached the end of the aisle when he spotted three immensely old; leather bound books that had certainly not been there before.

He felt a thrill of excitement and reached for the first one. It had an unpleasant stain on it that looked like blood and it's pages looked like they were starting to mould. "Secrets of the Darkest Arts," It was ambiguously titled. He immediately scooped the three books out and checked them out with the librarian.

"Are you sure you should be reading these, Miss Grey?" the librarian asked good naturedly.

"It's a Defence Against the Dark Arts project," he answered smoothly, "We are meant to research the worst of what wizards can do."

"Alright, here you go then. Mind you return them to the correct shelves when you do."

Tom settled down into a dark corner and began reading excitedly.

* * *

_What Defence Against the Dark Arts project?_ Elena thought frowning_; we haven't even been set any essays let alone projects by Professor Merrythought. He believes in practical lessons only._

She remembered the files that Snape had entrusted her with that mentioned Tom was going to be committing his first _murder_ on his father.

She felt an uneasy sense of intuition and cast a disillusionment charm before she fled to her Gryffindor dormitory.

Thankfully, the common room was deserted as was the girl's dorm. She rummaged through her trunk and brought out the file. How could she have left it in there when Riddle could have easily spotted it?

She carefully went through each and every article in her trunk and decided, apart from the files, everything else was fine for Riddle to see. She quickly left the Gryffindor tower and returned to the Slytherin Boy's Dorms.

She thoroughly re-read every file before seeing something about Horcruxes. Riddle, no, _Voldemort_ had split his soul into seven parts which was the reason he didn't die when his killing curse backfired. She flipped a page and saw that he made the first one after killing his father. She saw a detailed list of each Horcrux and the year it was made. She looked at the first Horcrux listed and followed her finger across the page to the date on the other side.

'_The Gaunt's Ring, also the Resurrection Stone although Riddle is unaware of this was created on 21st of July 1944'_

Elena gaped. That was only _nine months _from now. Was that what he was looking for in the library; to create a _horcrux_ to destroy his humanity?

Elena was frozen with horror. She refused to believe that Tom could actually commit murder. He may be arrogant and proud but she didn't think he was capable of cold blooded murder.

Strengthening her resolve to prevent this, Elena made her way to the library. After looking around and making absolute sure that Tom had left, she asked the librarian, "Sorry, but, can I please have the titles of the books Miss Grey just borrowed. You see, we are working on this project together and she forgot to mention the books to me."

She gave the librarian a dazzling smile for good measure and the lady was instantly won over. Obviously Tom was a frequent visitor to the library and like every other teacher, she doted on him.

She promptly gave Elena the list of books which she read, _"Secrets of The Darkest Arts", "Immortality: What It Takes"_, and lastly_ "The Sacred Arts of the Darkest Sorcery"._

The titles proved Elena's suspicions correct, and she realised the enormity of her mission and how important it was she completed it. The books really showed how far Tom was willing to go to live forever and how much work she'd have to do make him abandon his attempt.

She thanked the librarian and slowly walked back to the Common Room. There was still one hour till dinner and she had no idea where Tom was.

She had to work harder at her mission if she wanted to succeed. Suddenly, unbidden images of her two friends' dead, still faces showed up in her mind. _So this is what it all boils down to; Tom's obsessive desire to live forever and his determination unhindered by death or destruction. _

But Elena still couldn't believe that the _Tom_ she'd come to know would ever turn into such a monster. And that, Elena realised was the whole point of her mission; that she had to stop Tom from evolving into Voldemort. He wasn't yet at that stage, and who knows, she might have already changed the future.

_But he __**still**__ borrowed those books._

_

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A/N: As you know, we do love hearing from you so please do review :)


	13. Resolutions and Realisations

A/N: Hey guys! We are first of all SO SORRY for the incredibly late update. For those of you reading this that are in highschool can probably completely understand. It's been three weeks till our school has started and the work load has just been unbearable. Speaking of, I have two tests this week and a presentation the next. AAARGH. So we are really sorry this chapter is mostly a filler (No Tom/Elena action, sorry) but it will introduce two important things that need to be taken into account. And one very important subplot twist. But I won't spoil that for you guys now. Read on and we really hope you enjoy it :) Chapter 14 is about 1/4 done so expect an update in at least two weeks.

**Important Warning: ** If you have any problems with homosexuality I suggest you stop reading now.

**Chapter 13** –Resolutions and Realisations

Elena could not sleep that night. This was unusual in itself because normally she slept like a log, never waking once. She hardly ever had nightmares anymore, which had started after Camilla had been murdered; but they too had resided over time. Now, here she was lying awake in bed, in the Slytherin dormitory, her mind operating at a hundred miles per hour.

_So really, who is Tom Riddle? _She got a mental image of Tom, as handsome as ever, poring over a book, dueling with all his might and excelling in all his classes. But she couldn't picture him, as he was now, with slits for nostrils and blood red eyes, brutally murdering innocent people in cold blood and immersing himself in Dark magic.

_No_, she thought vehemently (_if thoughts could be vehement_). _I will __**not let**__ Tom become Voldemort. It is my mission to do this, and I __**will**__ succeed. _And with that determined thought in mind, she fell into an uneasy sleep.

But sleep didn't offer a respite from her anxiety. For the first time since she had traveled back in time, Elena had a nightmare.

She dreamt that she was walking out in the Hogwarts grounds. The lake was eerily calm and looked almost black; reflecting the setting sun and a slight breeze was playing with her hair. There was no one around, but she couldn't shrug off the feeling that something was very, very wrong.

Eventually she saw someone walking out of the Forbidden Forest. As the figure came closer, she recognised her mother. She was frowning, a frequent expression on her elegantly beautiful face, which was so much like her own. She swiftly walked to Elena. She looked at her in anger then, crossing her arms, only to begin rebuking her as if she was eleven years old again.

"Is this all you can do? Fraternise with mudbloods, and not even manage to stop Riddle from learning the Dark Arts? Your father was right; we should have dumped you the moment you were sorted into Gryffindor and mingling with those mudblood twins!"

"How dare you, it's none of your business!" Elena tried to say, but nothing came out. An invisible gag seemed to have blocked her mouth and she could not speak. Then, just as her mother's scowl deepened, another figure came prowling out of the woods. Severus Snape.

"What progress have you made, Ms. Colden? After all, you have had nearly two months," Snape drawled, his black eyes glistening with malice. After a few seconds, during which Elena struggled furiously to speak up, he said again "So nothing then. I see. Well maybe we did make a mistake in sending you back. I thought you cared about what was happening, but you surely cannot care very much, when you haven't managed to accomplish anything yet."

And then she saw Camilla and Carmen come out of the woods, still twelve years old, and looking at peace. They came to where the three people were standing and Camilla looked up Elena and said "Elena, I have complete faith in you. I know you're trying your hardest and, well, Carmen and I are counting on you." She continued to gaze sweetly up at Elena, and her unconditional trust hurt more than anything. No sooner had she finished speaking, when someone else walked towards the little group.

The sun had set now, and the grounds were lit up in moonlight. The lake reflected everything like a mirror and everyone's faces were thrown into sharp relief.

The figure approached them, robes billowing behind it in the breeze. Whoever they were, they were very tall and lean. When they were a few yards away, Elena recognised him. Tom Riddle was striding towards them, frowning and staring directly into Elena's panicked eyes.

He came closer, and looked down at her face. Elena gazed up at him, still unable to speak and found her hands trembling. Taking a deep breath, Tom leaned down and whispered into her ear "You cannot stop me."

And those words unleashed a strange power in Elena. Frustration rose in her like a wildfire and she shattered the silence with her fury.

"I _will_ stop you! You will not turn into that monster Tom!" She shrieked. Snape, her mother, Camilla and Carmen did not flinch, nor did they seem to notice she was shouting. After glancing at them, she looked back at Tom, determination swirling in her eyes, stood on her tiptoes and, like him, whispered in his ear "_I won't let you._"

"And who are you to _let me_? I am going to be the greatest wizard of all and will beat Death itself! Tell me _Elena_, why should I pay any attention to _you_?" Tom sneered in her face and stood waiting expectantly for an answer.

"Because I _care_, Tom. I care what happens to people. And, for some reason, I care what will happen to you. I don't like you now, but I know I hate what you will become Tom. You don't know what you're going to turn into," she answered him sadly. All the fight had gone out of eyes suddenly, and she inexplicably felt on the verge of tears. Tom did not say anything after that but turned and walked away, back into the Forbidden Forest. Then the world went black.

…

Elena woke in the dark dormitory, gasping for breath. An owl had let out a loud hoot, and shaken her out of the nightmare. Breathing heavily, she let go of the covers she'd been clutching. _It was just a dream, don't panic, it was just a dream._

She couldn't believe she'd had a nightmare now. And it had seemed so real too! Her mother, her ever-complaining, never satisfied mother had just said her deepest fears. She _wasn't_ getting anything done.

Sighing, and wide awake, Elena slipped out of the sleeping dormitory and into the Common Room. It was deserted, and she went out and into the dungeon corridor. _It must be around three in the morning now_, she mused. But she had to get out of the Slytherin area; it was suffocating her and just reinforced her feeling of failure.

Riddle's long stride brought her into the Entrance Hall very quickly. She glanced around, unsure where she wanted to go, when she remembered astronomy class, and made way for the tallest tower in all of Hogwarts. Upon reaching it, she unlocked the door easily and went out. The cool night air calmed her down and as she looked down at the pristine Hogwarts grounds, she was overwhelmed with deep remorse.

They dream had only reiterated the fact that she was failing this mission.

She shut her eyes, squeezing them tightly willing the images of her angry mother, the disappointed Snape and the innocent, loving Camilla and Carmen to disappear but it was as if they were burnt on the back of her eyelids, causing new fresh wounds to open up in her mind.

She could still hear their voices. _God_, it had been so long till she heard them. She remembered when she too was once an innocent twelve year old but seeing her friends killed before her had changed something in her. She was never the same again…until she decided to pursue this mission.

She had forgotten what it was like to have friends, forgotten what it was like to be loved, to laugh genuinely; not those false chuckles she forced when the Carrows suggested they torture the half-bloods.

Seeing this dream finally showed her how much she had to loose. If she stopped Tom, everything in the future would go back to normal. Her best friends would be back, her parents would accept her again because the world would no longer be prejudiced about muggleborn. It was now she realised the extent of her mission. She held so many lives in her hand and she needed to do something about it; fast, lest they all slip away from her weak grasp.

* * *

Two floors up in a broom cupboard there was an _entirely_ different story. Two bodies were pressed up against the wall, snogging as if their lives depended on it before one of them paused, gasping for air, before leaning against the taller one's chest.

"God, Noah you know we can't go on like this…"

"And, why not," Noah asked, raising his eyebrows before leaning in for another kiss, "You like it and I like it so I don't see anything wrong with two people doing something they enjoy."

"Noah, come on you know what I mean."

"No, I don't," the blonde said smugly, before beginning his assault on his partner's neck, peppering light kisses up his jaw before claiming his lips once again.

"Noah, I am serious stop. No one will approve. We're fucking poufs for god's sake, can you imagine the rumours that will spread? A Slytherin and a Gryffindor? They'll think I, being the big bad Slytherin, probably have you on a love potion or something. No one will believe us. After all, my parents certainly made it clear that two men being romantically involved is anything but normal."

"Gavin, relax. Besides, I have it on good accord that Dumbledore is gay."

"As if I would believe that," the brunette was indignant.

"I saw him eyeing up ol' Sluggy."

Gavin cringed. That was one mental image he did not want burnt in his mind, "Still not convinced Bennett."

"I know something that can convince you," the blonde grinned cheekily. His dark haired companion grinned. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah."

And once again their lips met in a battle of dominance; this time not against each other, but against the world. They were fighting for their relationship to survive in a bigoted society.

* * *

A/N: Gavin, Gavin, Gavin. Where have we heard that name before? Those of you have haven't already realised who he is, go back one or two chapters and I am certain you will find the answer there. Noah/Gavin (found out who he is yet guys?) was part of the story from the very beginning. Remember Noah bumping into Elena that time in chapter 6 or something looking thoroughly snogged? And his notebook…what did that contain? ….Remember, hot and smart guys are assholes, hot and nice guys are dumb and smart and nice guys are nerds BUT hot, smart and nice guys are sadly gay. ;)

And a random side note. I just watched Brokeback Mountain yesterday and it was just HEARTBREAKING. I don't think I have ever cried that much in a movie it was so BEAUTIFUL. It was so unfair, they never even got to tell each other they loved each other. :( Although this chapter was written like...a month...ago I now have a new inspiration for the Noah/Gavin relationship. (It was originally Maxxie/Tony from Skins...although they were never together their friendship was cute).

AHEM, back to the actual point of the author's note: What did you guys think of the chapter? Elena's dream? Do you think she's on the right track and her dream could possibly come true? Has she already changed Tom or does she still have a long way to go? What do you guys think about Noah/Avery? (it was actually planned from the very beginning that they would be together).

So anyway, PLEASE PLEASE leave a review.

WE LOVE YOU DEAR READERS,

SinisterlySexy


	14. Muffins, London and Grindelwald

**A/N: Ok, so we know we haven't updated in a while…(dodges rotten tomatoes and eggs thrown by faithful readers), ok more like a month, but alas school and IB does get in the way. So now we give you all our longest chapter EVER! To make up for it **** So read on and ENJOY! **

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**Chapter 14 - Muffins, London and Grindelwald.**

Elena woke up, Saturday morning, dreading the day ahead. She had the strangest feeling that she had swallowed a huge rock and it was permanently lodged in her throat. Today was her final day as Tom Riddle and what she should have felt was elation but instead she regretted how much time she had lost in Tom's body which she could have used to exploit him. She got up hurriedly and noticed that all the boys were fast asleep except Avery who seemed to be missing. Once she had gotten dressed she began her task of literally ransacking Riddle's four poster bed and trunk. After searching in vain for a good half hour in his trunk, she came across a secret compartment that contained a black leather bound diary.

She knew at once, this was _the_ diary which would later be turned into a horcrux. The first few pages described the painstaking research that Riddle had done in the five years before he had managed to open the chamber. She read the date on the first page; '22nd December 1937'. _He was only eleven years old when he did all this research? That is incredible._

She continued to look at the pages in what could only be described as awe. As the pages moved on she saw some of the vent of frustration he had at not finding the chamber. All of a sudden, she came upon the date '31st October 1941' and realised that that was when he discovered the entrance to the chamber. After pouring through all his notes she realised Tom Riddle was simply _brilliant_. There was no other word to describe his raw intellect and determination. She looked at the date five weeks after he had discovered the chamber and read the entry.

_I don't understand why the basilisk petrified the mudbloods today. I expressely told it to not draw attention to itself until later and it yet again has disobeyed me. I do not know what is happening. The basilisk is supposed to be the servant of the heir of Slytherin!_

She flipped over the page and saw Tom's usually elegant script haphazardly scribbled across the page.

_A mudblood was murdered today. I did not even know her name nor did I tell the basilisk to kill her. This is going on for too long and the basilisk continues to defy me. I will shut the chamber and trap it in there forever. It seems to be out of everyone's control now._

Elena was shocked. She had been told that Riddle had only shut the chamber because the school was about to close down and he did not want to return to the orphanage. She realised that he didn't _want _to purge the school of the muggleborns, the only thing he was after was power and the need to gain respect. Perhaps there was still some hope left in convincing him.

She shut the diary and put it back in the compartment exactly the way it had been taking extra care to ensure there was no trace that she had been in there. She then quietly left the room and headed out towards the great hall. Once again, she and Tom had agreed to meet at their usual tapestry before school began. They would then go to Professor Slughorn who would give them the cure and would never have to worry about each other again (Tom's words, not hers).

* * *

"There you go, that's two goblet fulls of the reversal potion. It should take effect instantaneously," beaming, Slughorn handed them two smoking goblets full of a neon orange concoction which Tom eyed suspiciously. He had never seen a potion like that before.

Wordlessly, they both swallowed the contents of their goblets. Tom immediately felt the strangest feeling.

First his toes started to tingle in the most disturbing manner. He found himself inexplicably crinkling his nose. Suddenly, his mouth seemed to stretch into a smile of its own accord. He looked over, and Elena was experiencing the exact same thing. (**A/N: Ok, whoever guesses the song first will win a shout-out in the next chapter**)

Finally, Tom felt the queerest sensation of being sucked into the ground, like his body was melting but his soul was sinking in quicksand. A half second later he found himself back in his own body. He looked over and thankfully saw Elena back in her body as well, however she seemed to be having some sort of…convulsions or something. She was flailing out her hands and screaming, "YESSS, YESS I'm back!"

Tom rolled his eyes. She was like a nine year old on a sugar rush, completely incapable of taking anything seriously. (**A/N: whoever guesses where that line came from gets a special shout-out. HINT: it's a T.V. show**)

"Well, that's better isn't it. I'm so sorry about the mix up and to make up for it; here are the two bottles of Felix Felicis as promised. And I assure you this is the real Felix Felicis this time."

Tom and Elena silently took their bottles and made to leave the office but Slughorn interrupted, "Oh and, if you don't mind, please don't mention this to Dippet."

"Of course not Sir," Tom said in a sickeningly false devoted voice.

As soon as they got out of Slughorn's earshot Elena said, "You know, you don't have to kiss his arse _all the time_."

Tom was gobsmacked and all he could reply with was, "I _don't_ kiss his arse."

"Sure you don't," said Elena smugly.

"I don't," he said defiantly.

"Fine, fine," she said in a singsong voice.

As they entered the Great Hall for a late breakfast, heads started to turn in their general direction, _again._ "Great, what have we done this time?"

"I think it's more the fact that we've entered together…" Tom answered.

"Well, I don't want to eat here with everyone staring," she said.

Elena quickly grabbed a double chocolate muffin off the Hufflepuff table. ("Hey!" A Hufflepuff shouted, "I was going to eat that.")

She grabbed his arm and steered him out the doors and to a large oak tree at the foot of the lake. You almost couldn't see Hogwarts from there.

"Why are we here again? If you'll excuse me, I need to go to the Library," said Tom.

"Firstly, we are here because I couldn't bear to eat where people just gawped at me and secondly, no you don't need to go to the library because we didn't get any homework this week," She settled against the base of the tree and took a bite out of her muffin, and peered at Tom over her knees.

Tom's stomach growled and he stared enviously at her muffin. Elena noticing this said, "Do you want some?"

"Of course not."

"Really? Your stomach, and not to mention your eyes seem to be saying otherwise."

Tom grudgingly sat down next to her and quietly accepted the offered muffin. He pulled out his wand and used a spell to cut it in half. Tom took a large bite and they sat for a few minutes in muffin contentment.

Upon finishing his half of the muffin, Tom sighed and stared broodingly (A/N: HOT HOT HOT) into the depths of the still lake. Elena, noticing this, shook her head in frustration and said "Ok, so what is it this time?"

Tom looked down at her, puzzled, and replied "What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on, it's written all over your face. Clearly something's bothering you and you should just spit it out," she said.

"It's none of your business Grey, and even if it were you wouldn't be able to understand it," Tom said bitingly, impatience evident in every word.

"Right so first off, you need to drop the attitude with me because, whether you like it or not, everyone thinks we're going out and we need to keep up appearances, for the sake of my image. And, about two seconds ago you were fine, but then two seconds later you seem to have sunk into total arrogant arsehole mode again, and it is annoying. SO just spit it out, whatever's bothering you, so I can finish the rest of my muffin in peace."

To say Tom looked slightly taken aback would be the understatement of the century. He had never in a million years expected Elena to be so insightful into his personality.

"I…uh…I well lets just say a project I'm working on _alone_ is not going as planned, and it just..._frustrates_ me that I'm not able to fix it," Tom finally said, staring determinedly at his fingernails.

_Yeah I know what project. Guess this is it Elena, he's going after the Horcruxes at last. But thankfully, it's not going too well. I hope it just continues on like this…_

"Well…that's no reason to muck up a great Saturday morning! Why don't you take a break and maybe you'll find a way to fix it?" she suggested chirpily.

"What kind of a break?"

"You know, like a sneak out of school in the dead of night and apparate to Muggle London kind of break," she said slyly.

Looking slightly disconcerted, Tom said "Oh and you've taken _this_ sort of a break before?"

"No, but I know how it goes," she answered.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you but that is NOT happening. I happen to be a school prefect and have to set an example…"

"Fine," she cut across him, "I'll just go with Noah."

"But I thought I was the one in need of a break," Tom said, raising an eyebrow.

"Uhm, yeah but I guess I need one too now," she said nonchalantly. "And besides, I've always wondered what Muggle London was like…I mean _is_ like."

"Do whatever you want Grey, just don't come crying to me when you land yourself your twentieth detention with Dippet. Oh…and thanks for the muffin," and with a slight smile he couldn't disguise, Tom walked back to school, leaving Elena sitting by the tree.

* * *

For the first time in two weeks, Elena finally entered her beloved Gryffindor dormitory…and was welcomed by a slightly hostile group of girls who were intent on grilling her about Riddle.

"Sooo, we saw you two leave the Great Hall this morning," Charlotte started.

"Oh no, why was everyone staring?" Elena asked.

"Simply because in the past Tom Riddle has never been seen within a yard of a girl."

"Well sorry to disappoint you guys but nothing happened…and if you don't mind I have to…go to the library." She realised she got that excuse from Tom.

"Grey, I am so glad you are finally taking your studies seriously, in fact, I was going to go to the library right now. We can go together," Muriel Weasley piped up from the corner.

"Ohhh, wait…I promised Noah I would go and see Professor…Dumbledore…about some…uhh…transfiguration project," she said quickly.

"Oh, that's ok then," Muriel said while the other girls snorted.

"Changing your mind so quickly Grey," said Kate smirking.

"No, I just realised I promised Noah something. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go meet him."

Elena walked out of the dormitory and into the crowded common room, craning her neck to spot Noah's familiar blonde head. She finally saw him curled up in front of the window with his sketchbook in hand. He seemed to be scribbling furiously.

She sneaked up behind him and shouted, "BOO!" Noah violently cursed and Elena swore one of them was in Gobbledegook. She managed to sneak a peek at his sketchbook and saw what looked like a photograph of the view outside the window.

"Ooh, let me see," she snatched it out of his hands and stared. That wasn't a photograph, it was a drawing.

"Hey, give it back, it's awful," Noah said.

"Are you joking? Did you actually draw this? It's incredible," Elena said in disbelief.

"Well…I was bored….anyway why did you…jump me…?"

"Oh right, well, the girls were being annoying and I made up an excuse for going to the library…except Muriel volunteered to come with me and so I was forced to make another excuse which included you and I going to see Professor Dumbledore."

"Right. So I take it we are not actually going to see Professor Dumbledore…"

"Well, let's just go anyway, and _pretend_ we're going to see Professor Dumbledore."

He picked up his things and the two of them traipsed out of the portrait hole. "Right, so I have to ask you something," she said.

"Well, go on"

"Do you want to sneak out to muggle London tonight?"

"Um…why?"

"Because I need a break and I asked Riddle but he said no and then I told him _fine_ I'd ask you instead but then…"

"You want to show him up don't you," he said knowingly.

"_No_, well, maybe…so can you come?"

"Why not? But what will we do?"

"Well, we could always go to a muggle pub and try out…muggle drinks…not to mention the muggle girls, eh Noah?" she winked.

"Oh, yeah of course, the girls," he said unenthusiastically.

"So you'll come then."

"There's one problem though…we don't have any muggle clothes."

"Before we go, we can transfigure some of our school robes into muggle clothes and take them with us."

"Wait, I thought in the muggle world you have to be eighteen to drink…we're sixteen."

Elena rolled her eyes, "I've got it, don't worry. Just meet me at the common room at midnight. When no one's there."

* * *

As soon as she heard Muriel's rasping snores echo throughout the dormitory, she knew that everyone was asleep; because Muriel was the last one to come back from the library and took ages falling asleep.

She quietly took out two authentic fake IDs she had prepared for herself and Noah and then proceeded to sneak out of her dormitory. As planned, Noah was waiting for her, with a smirk on his face.

"What?" she said.

"Nothing," he grinned.

"You feel like a rebel don't you?"

"Yeah, that and I've always wondered what muggle London is like," he answered.

She handed him the fake ID and they walked out of the common room. They had just reached the entrance hall when she heard footsteps. "Quick get in here," she pulled Noah behind a suit of armour, which didn't quite cover the both of them.

After a few tense moments, Tom Riddle walked into the Entrance Hall, clearly doing his rounds as prefect. Sighing in relief, she pulled Noah out from behind the statue and they walked towards the door.

"Wait, where are you two going? And why are you out of bed at this hour?" Tom asked curtly.

"I told you Tom, we're going to 'take a break'," Elena said slyly.

"What? I didn't think you were being serious about that!" Tom said, shocked.

"Well, now you know I am. So please move out of the way. Oh yeah and don't tell anyone," she said with an air of finality.

All this time, Noah had been looking uncertainly from Elena to Tom, and trying to see where this was going to go…

"Fine then, leave. But like I said before, don't come back to me when you end up, I don't know, _drunk _or something and doing a hundred detentions," Tom said stiffly.

"Yeah, I won't," Elena replied coolly. "Now move out of the way." Tom was currently standing with his back to the door.

"No, I can't just let you go out. It's not safe with Grindelwald's supporters storming wherever they find signs of magic," Tom said concernedly.

Elena's confidant demeanour seemed to wilt for a moment. She had completely forgotten about Grindelwald. But she couldn't back down now. Tom would forever consider her a coward.

"Well, we'll just be extra careful then…" she said uncertainly.

"No, I can't let you do that…I'm going to…" Tom trailed off

_You're going to what, Tom? Why do you care anyway, she means nothing to you, so it shouldn't matter whether she gets attacked or mugged in muggle London. And it would be amusing to see her in trouble, now won't it? _

_But Dippet would never forgive me if a student got into trouble on my watch. _

_Are you sure _that's_ the reason you want her to be safe?_

Tom told his conscience to shut up and said "…I'm…I'm coming with you," he said in a rush.

Elena stopped, turned, and exclaimed "You're what? You were the one who didn't want to go in the first place!"

"Yes, but I can't very well allow you two to walk off into trouble now can I?" Tom snapped.

"Uhm, not to interrupt you guys or anything, but if we are going then we should really get a move on, its half past twelve already…" Noah put in timidly.

Both Tom and Elena shot Noah quick glares then walked to the front doors. Once they reached the boundary of the Hogwarts grounds, Elena stopped them and began transfiguring her own clothes. Her robes were replaced by a short strapless black dress that was admittedly of a conservative length, and happened to be her favourite one back home. She transformed her scarf into a black trench coat. Her shoes were gone, and now she was clad in strappy black high heels, complete with a red sole. Now she was tall enough to reach Tom's nose, and that felt good to her.

Tom, looking slightly amazed at her transformation was openly gawking her.

"You know, you have to change too…" she said with a smile.

"Right…I knew that."

Noah was already wearing an old fashioned suit, the kind Elena had seen in those war movies, at Carmen's place. But, now that she was here she appreciated 21st century fashion much more. Tom however, was wearing a black oxford shirt with black pants, since their spells worked best of the colours were maintained. But Noah seemed to have on a red and gold tie…weird.

"Ok, so now that we look like muggles, lets go."

"Wait but I can't apparate," Noah said.

Both Elena and Tom gave him deeply disgruntled looks. Tom, noticing that Elena had given him one too, asked "Grey, _you_ know how to apparate?"

"Excuse me, of course I know how to apparate. I'm seve- sixteen and my tutor taught me ages ago," she said.

Tom still looked skeptical, but only said "Right, so who shall take Bennett here in side-along?"

"I will. Come on Noah, grasp my left arm really tightly now," Elena said.

"Hang on, where are we apparating to?" Noah asked.

Elena told him a street she was familiar with, incidentally very close to where Camilla and Carmen used to live.

After a brief, airless trip, they were standing in front of a fancy French bar. Tom raised his eyebrows at her, and commented "Well, you sure know all the places, Grey."

"One of my many talents"

They walked in and sat down at a table. A pretty French waitress who looked about twenty five at the most, sauntered across the smoke filled room to take their orders. She bent over Tom, neatly revealing her abundant cleavage. Elena looked away in disgust. Thankfully, Noah had the same look of disgust, although now that she thought about it, it was weird considering any red blooded teenage male would be drooling all over the table.

But Tom didn't seem to have noticed her excessive flirting and was calmly ordering a red Chianti wine for himself and looked expectantly over at Elena. She grabbed the menu and looked through excitedly at the array of vintage cocktails. "I'll have…a martini cocktail." Noah ordered a pink lady cocktail. He insisted he had drunk it before…with his father, and that it was a manly drink.

"Anything else?" the waitress asked, looking pointedly at Tom and thoroughly ignoring Elena and Noah.

Tom ignored her and addressed Elena, "Now about your choice in drink, do you _know_ how much alcohol it contains?"

"Um… it's just a martini right? It's not like it's a shot or anything."

"What's a shot?" Tom asked.

"Uhh...nevermind."

"Excuse é moi, are you done with your orders?"

"Yes, that will be all, thank you," Tom smiled politely and the waitress blushed.

Their drinks arrived, with Noah's coming complete with a bright red cherry and pink to boot. Elena's, contrary to what Tom claimed, was a completely harmless golden red, with a tiny olive at the bottom.

She hesitantly took her first sip, and it burned down her throat. In no time at all, her glass was empty and she had already ordered a second. She was starting the feel reckless now, and fed up with her stupid mission. Who would say that Tom Riddle would end up as Voldemort? He was right here, sipping a bloody Chianti like a bloody aristocrat, for god's sake! Voldemort seemed more of a Bloody Mary kind of bloke.

Trying to rouse herself from her twisted and confused thoughts, she dimly registered that she was getting _slightly_ tipsy. Noah on the other hand, had drunk three pink ladies, four gin and tonics, and a scotch. He now looked very ready to pass out, and was currently informing a very disturbed Tom, how beautiful his eyebrows really were. Elena shook herself and listened more closely.

"…and you know, your facial structure is just like those Greek statues, that are great for drawing...but you know your mate Avery man, wow he's a knockout!" Noah slurred.

"Ok, now is a good time to STOP, Noah," Elena interrupted, and Tom shot her a grateful glance.

"Yeah, you know what, I can sleep right here, this is a really com…comfortable ch...chair." And with that, Noah passed out, his head banging against the table.

"Alright I'm going to the men's room, make sure Bennett doesn't…_die_, will you?" Tom sighed. He was really regretting coming now.

"Yeah sure I will," Elena smiled at him beatifically. Maybe Bennett wasn't the only one who was drunk, Tom thought.

As soon as Tom left, a group of rowdy men, sitting on the table next to them made their way slowly over to where Elena was drinking her third (or was it fourth?), martini.

"Alright honey?" a particularly greasy one slurred.

"Ditch your pal blondie there, and come share a pint with us," a second, slightly less drunk man said.

"Um, no thanks, we're leaving soon anyway," she said firmly and looked resolutely away from them.

"Oh, come on darlin', a fine young thing like you shouldn't be sitting alone! One drink's not going to do you much harm," the first one said.

"I said no, so please leave now," she said curtly, but nonetheless her fingers had curled around her wand under her jacket.

"Is there a problem here?" Tom's cold voice cut in from right behind them.

"Oh no, Tom, they were just _leaving_," Elena said sharply, looking pointedly at them. The men scrambled off, leaving behind a slightly awkward silence.

"Um…yeah so thanks," she mumbled, looking at her glass.

"Well you _were_ the only decent looking girl left at the bar, so I s'pose it was inevitable that drunkards like them would trouble you…"he trailed off leaving an even more awkward silence.

"Ah…right, well….thanks, yes," she said, embarrassed. "Yeah we should get going now, it's getting late and I think Noah's not going to get up."

She was about to try and heave Noah to his feet, with Tom helping on the other side, when the door burst open. The waitress screamed as the bar table behind her exploded and showered a fine layer of dust and smoke everywhere. A split second later everyone's glasses shattered.

All the muggles collapsed on the spot, leaving only Tom and Elena awake. As the smoke cleared, three cloaked figures approached their table. Both Tom and Elena had dropped Noah back in his seat and were clutching their wands tightly.

"Vell, vell, vell, vhat do ve have here?" a thickly accented male voice echoed throughout the room.

"Looks like two English vizard truants to me, vhat about you Schultheiss?" the second figure said.

"Now, ve vant you to come quietly, but ah, first hand over your vands," the first man ordered.

Elena seemed to have frozen in place. She was in shock, and her fingers were moulded to her wand. She glanced at Tom, next to her, and she heard him breath in one word –

"_Grindelwald._"

* * *

**A/N: Aww aren't we evil? Well you just need to press that cute tiny little button that says REVIEW and we shall update SOON this time, we PROMISE! **** Also an excerpt from the next chapter – **

_Elena shot a well aimed curse at her attacker, hitting him squarely in the chest._

"_Well, Grey, I didn't know you could fight drunk," Tom remarked, dodging curses from his own opponent_

"_I'm NOT drunk!" Elena said indignantly, but her unsteady walk said otherwise. As soon as Tom's opponent was unconscious, Elena tripped over a stool and fell over, giggling hysterically._

"_Not drunk, my arse," Tom muttered to himself._

**Haha, so that's all for now, we really vow to update SOONER next time! Also bonus brownie points to those who can guess the song and the T.V. show we got those two lines, earlier in the chapter from.**

**Seriously, you will get to be a cameo character in the next chapter if you get it right! ;P **


	15. Bar Fights Of A Sort

**A/N**: First off guys, HAPPY NEW YEARS EVE….and…if you guys recall, TODAY IS TOM'S BIRTHDAY! So if Harry didn't kill Voldemort he'd be…84…years old. _Damn._ Anyway, we know it's been more than a month since we updated and we are SO SO SO SO _SO_ SORRY. It was kind of difficult writing this chapter since we're both in different countries but we emailed it back and forth each writing a few bits. So yeah, I know we've been awful authors but in my defence I have my GCSE mocks in TWO WEEKS and my friend's a year above me in IB which is even worse. :S

**Second A/N**: To flyingcrispi and Elle Q Kaye, we're so sorry we couldn't write you into this chapter but you'll be in the next, promise (or perhaps the one after the next?) We really hope you don't mind.

**Third A/N**: If you are still reading this…well, _why are you still reading this? _Go on, read the chapter! We hope you enjoy it :)

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**Chapter 15 – Bar fights of a sort**

The men prowled through the upturned tables, slowly advancing on Tom and Elena. Tom was standing stiffly, his jaw set with resolve and his fingers tightly gripping his wand. (A/N: Get your mind out of the gutter, because clearly we can't and are currently giggling like immature middle schoolers :P)

Elena on the other hand, was trying very hard not to be afraid, but it wasn't that easy. Her hand was also wrapped around her wand (A/N: not _his_…yes we are filthy) but she couldn't help it from shaking slightly.

The man in front leered at her, his face a mirage of scars and various other unpleasant attributes. "Vell vat a beauty ve have managed to corner here…" The second man joined in his mirthless laughter; adding, "Yes let us keel her partner first, then take care of her…" his face was stretched into a malicious, albeit idiotic grin. Somehow, Elena didn't want to find out what 'taking care' of her meant.

Before the men reached her and Tom, he whispered, "Take Bennett and disapparate back to school. Try not to get into any _more_ trouble this time."

"Yeah and how about _you_ get yourself killed here, and _I_ be held responsible?" Elena hissed back at him, gnashing her teeth.

"Fine, your choice," Tom shot back, rolling his eyes. Elena surreptitiously shoved Noah completely under their table, so he was completely obliterated from the men's view.

It all happened at once. The third man, who had been lingering in the background, was suddenly enveloped in blood red flames and vanished into them, only to re-materialise three inches behind them. Tom, who was _not_ slightly tipsy, immediately spun around and shouted '_Impedimenta!'_ The curse missed the man, but he was forced to retreat several paces from them.

Black smoke erupted from the other man's wand, and suddenly none of them could see. Tom, feeling enraged at his incompetence, forced his way out of the black sphere and cast a curse that Elena was not familiar with. The other man's blood seemed to freeze in his veins; his eyes cracked a half-second later and within a minute he collapsed into a heap of dust on the floor.

"What the _hell_ Tom?" Elena shouted from in between firing a jelly-legs jinx at both the remaining men.

To say he was shocked would be a massive understatement. "_What?" _Tom looked back at her sharply.

"How could you just kill him?" She ducked a purple hex shot directly to her chest.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because he was going to murder the both of us in about two seconds?" Tom joined the duel, which was a good thing considering Elena was about to succumb to the pressures of being tipsy as well as dead-tired.

Meanwhile, Elena shot a well aimed curse at her attacker, hitting him squarely in the chest.

"Well, Grey, I didn't know you could fight drunk," Tom remarked, dodging curses from his own opponent

"I'm NOT drunk!" Elena said indignantly, but her unsteady walk said otherwise. As soon as Tom's opponent was unconscious, Elena tripped over a stool and fell over, giggling hysterically.

"Not drunk, my arse," Tom muttered to himself.

* * *

After several tense moments of intense fighting, Tom once again fired an unfamiliar spell at the blonde man, who immediately crumpled on the floor, unmoving apart from the strange twitches coming from his neck.

"What did you do _this _time?" Elena gritted.

"He's not dead, if that's what you're wondering," Tom said angrily. "I merely fractured his neck." He said this as plainly as if he were commenting on the weather.

"Oh right, that's _so_ much better right?" Elena leaped over yet another purple (what was up with this bloke?) curse, and with a strong body-bind, she finished the duel.

As soon as they had shoved the three dead men into an abandoned theatre a few blocks from the pub, Elena burst out "Who _were_ they? And why on earth did they come for _us?_"

"Well, they were obviously Grindelwald's followers, Elena. Surely their charming accents could have told you that. As for why they came for _us_, well I have no idea at all." Tom did not look at her while he said this, instead busying himself with the restoration of the pub which now resembled a muggle bomb shelter…where a bomb had landed.

"Right. And you're _sure_ you have no idea why they came so specifically for us?" Elena narrowed her eyes at Tom's retreating back, and made her way to Noah, who was still under the table.

"_Yes,_ Grey, you know I would never lie to you," Tom said with a smirk.

_No of course you wouldn't. I suppose those Dark Magic books were just a figment of my imagination then, _Elena thought bitterly.

With a final sweep of his wand and some carefully chosen words, Tom returned the bar to its pre-Grindelwald-follower's-duel condition, minus the tarty waitress. "I...uh...suppose we have to wake her up then..." Tom was looking extremely uncomfortable now.

"Aw, I know you want to Tom," Elena said with a smirk. "After all, she was _such_ an admirer."

"Oh shut up."

Laughing, Elena returned her attentions to Noah, and started to drag him out from under the table. He was much heavier than he looked and after about half dragging him out, Elena collapsed onto one of the chairs.

"Uhm a little help here please." Elena scowled, annoyed at having to ask anymore of Tom Riddle.

Tom wordlessly made his way towards them and heaved Noah out in one go. Both Tom and Elena attempted to drag him out of his stupor but were unsuccessful, even after Elena conjured some water and poured it on his face.

"Right, so he is definitely not waking up anytime soon. Looks like we're going to have to carry him back to school," Elena said with a sigh.

"Fine. Take his left arm, and I'll take...the rest of him," Tom said.

With a final glance around the place, and a sharp look at the stirring waitress, Tom, Elena and Noah walked, or hobbled out of the bar. They slipped into the first enclave they saw and disapparated back to school.

Appearing with a loud _crack_ just outside the school grounds, the three (well Tom and Elena and a very unconscious Noah) made their way up the steps and into the Entrance Hall. Dumping Noah onto the ground, Elena transformed her dress and coat back into her school robes. Tom, with a slight pause, proceeded to do the same.

"You know, you look pretty good in black," Elena said with a sunny smile. Her head was starting to spin slightly.

"I am always in black Grey," Tom answered with a slight raise of his eyebrows.

"I know, but still you do..." Elena said. Obviously someone was still reeling from the effect of three (or was it four?) straight martinis.

"Right, well you looked pretty...decent, yourself," Tom said.

Shaking her head experimentally, Elena seemed to come to her senses for a minute, and stared at Tom in horror.

"Oh shit, shit, those stupid martinis. What did I just say?"

"Nothing Grey, absolutely nothing," Tom told her, looking thoroughly relieved she had recovered somewhat from her drunken stupor.

"Ok, great, now can you help me haul Noah back to the Gryffindor dormitory? What time is it anyway?" Elena asked.

"Just ten past three in the morning. I guess that's fairly early for someone like you," Tom said sourly. He was just thinking of all the stupid comments that he would receive from the Death Eaters' heads, when they saw the Dark Lord coming to bed two hours past his patrol time, looking like he'd been drinking.

"Someone like _me_? And what is that supposed to mean?" said Elena angrily, taking one of Noah's arms and throwing it around her shoulder.

"Someone who sneaks out at night Grey, hoping to get drunk, just for the thrill of flouncing school rules, in other words, someone who has no sense of responsibility," Tom shot back, as they made their slow way back to the Gryffindor tower.

"Right, well since I'm such a failure of a person Riddle, why did _you_ bother to come along? Why not just let Noah and I go?" Elena said coldly.

"Like I said before Grey, I couldn't let Dippet think I'd let two, albeit idiotic, students sneak out and get into trouble on _my _watch," Tom answered. "And it was quite clear you could not have defeated those followers alone."

"I would really appreciate it Riddle, if you wouldn't pretend that you didn't enjoy yourself today," Elena said irritably. She was tipsy, dead tired and could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on. She did not need Tom-fucking-Riddle acting like a smart arse right now.

Tom abruptly stopped walking, causing Elena to stumble and fall, taking Riddle and Noah down with her. They all fell in a heap on the middle of the third floor corridor, with a thump.

"What is your _problem_?" Elena said angrily.

Tom was about to answer when they saw a horribly familiar silhouette appeared at the end of the corridor. It was Slughorn, looking not entirely confident on his feet, making his way back to his office. He had not seen them yet, and seemed to be humming absentmindedly.

His gaze finally fell on the three of them, and he took three steps back.

"Mr Riddle! Ms Grey? And is that you, Mr Bennett? What are you doing _here_ and at this time of the night?" Slughorn fixed them with an indistinct stare. "And what on _earth_ are you doing on the floor?" He blinked at them, and then blushed for some reason.

Tom immediately got up and began brushing off his clothes. "Nothing sir, we were just...just...helping Mr Bennett here back from the bathrooms. He's...he's not feeling so well, and fell on the floor" His voice came out hesitant at first, but then persuasive as he found a suitable cover.

Elena grudgingly admired Tom's impressive lying abilities, but they turned out to be unnecessary. Slughorn seemed to have had a _very_ similar night to them.

"Right, right yes, well off you go then," he muttered indistinctly. He started up the corridor, but after a few tottering steps, leaned against one of the walls, slid down and fainted.

"Ok, seeing teachers drunk is just _wrong_," Elena said.

Tom did not answer, but knelt down towards Slughorn's face. "He's alive," Tom said.

"That's good to know,"

"Just sleeping," Tom stood up, ran his fingers through his hair distractedly, and looked, to Elena, for the first time at a loss of what to do.

Just then Slughorn stirred, and mumbled "Fairy lights she said...completely bonkers...as if that would make a good Intoxication Draught...mmghhfm" Tom and Elena exchanged disbelieving, slightly alarmed looks.

Slughorn let out a snore then muttered again "green...green...Myrna had a green dress on...with purple underthings...my favourite...mmmhhhmm...Intoxication Draught..."

Tom and Elena once again exchanged even more alarmed looks, but this time Tom noticed a mischievous glint in Elena's eyes.

"What...?" Tom asked suspiciously.

"Well," Elena said cheekily. "Isn't _Myrna,_ Professor Montgomery's first name? The Astronomy professor?"

"Uh.,.well I think it is..." Riddle paused; looking hilariously (to Elena) embarrassed and continued "So now we know where he was tonight..."

"Oho yes we do..." Elena laughed and Tom, unable to stop himself, joined in. They picked Noah up again, and decided without a moment's hesitation, to leave Slughorn right where he was.

"After all," Elena said as, between intermittent peals of laughter, they made their way to the Gryffindor tower "it did not look like the first time he'd done something like that before."

"No I guess not," Tom replied with a straight face. "You _would_ know, wouldn't you?"

"Tom, what _are_ you suggesting?" her eyes flashed dangerously but her glare quickly subsided as she once again burst into a fit of giggles. "Can't believe…Slughorn and Professor Montgomery…blimey," she choked out.

"Can you please stop repeating that? I am trying to erase that awful image burnt in my mind," tom replied stoically.

However, this only resulted in Elena laughing harder.

"What?" Tom glared.

"Your-your expression," she stifled incoherently.

"Yes, well. Let's just try to ignore Slughorn, and please get you both to Gryffindor. We've got to get him up six more flights of stairs."

"Soh-ree Mr. Grumpy-pants," she huffed.

"_Grumpy pants?_"

"It's a muggle saying, ok! I heard some bloke using it in the common room," she retaliated.

"Uhh…right…are you _sure_ you're sober Grey?"

"Of course I am," she replied defiantly before tripping down a non-existent step.

This time, Tom couldn't hold in his laughter. "Stop laughing, stop it!" she shouted, "TOM!"

Several minutes later, the two of them successfully manoeuvred Noah's unconscious body up seven flights of stairs before finally letting him drop to the ground.

"He owes me _so_ bad," Elena glared at Noah, who was slumped against the Fat Lady (who was snoring lightly against her frame)

"Well, I suppose this is it," Tom said.

"It's only the first time you've dragged our drunk arses back to the Gryffindor common room, Tom."

"The next time you two cavort off to get drunk I am _not_ accompanying you."

"Whatever you say, Tom."

"I'm going to leave you two alone now, get back into the dormitory and get some sleep, we do after all have lessons tomorrow."

"Yes father," Elena rolled her eyes at Tom's retreating figure.

"Wait, Tom!" she yelled.

"Yes?" He turned around.

"Thanks, you know, for coming with us," she blushed, "we'd probably be dead if I had to face the three men alone."

"Yeah well," he started, before changing his mind, "You're welcome." The corners of his mouth ghosted into a smile.

Below them Noah seemed to be stirring although the two sixth-years paid him no attention.

"Well, good night. Good early-morning actually," Elena said.

"Good night Elena, I'll see you in potions tomorrow."

Tom was about to turn around when he was very rudely interrupted.

"Mmh, Gavin,_ HARDER_," Noah groaned.

Elena stared down at him in shock but Noah seemed to have gone right back to sleep…or whatever fantasy he was in the middle of.

"Um...who's _Gavin_?"

Tom grimaced. "I don't seem to recall any Gavins in school..." He broke off, frowning. "Hang on, Grey…that's Avery's first name, Gavin."

* * *

A/N: awhh _Noah_ way to ruin the moment. So, what did you guys think? Of the bar fight scene? Slughorn drunk? Elena and Tom still arguing but not quite hating each other?

We don't have any extracts from the next chapter (since it hasn't been written :O) and we cannot promise a date but _hopefully_ we can get it done sometime January 2011. (after my exams of course). So, we don't have an extract but lets just say the next chapter involves: A Halloween feast, spiked pumpkin juice, a raging game of truth or dare (suggested by Elena of course), and a much needed _talk_ between Elena and Noah about Noah's little secret.

*Grins* Now, we know you can't wait. Aren't we absolutely evil? Well, what are you still here for? Click that lovely little blue link right below and let us know what you thought of the chapter :D


	16. What's Halloween Without A Bit Of Mayhem

**A/N:**Yes, yes, we _know_ we said late January not early Feb. Let's just say a lot has happened lately and we've barely had time to breathe. AHEM. Anyway, don't be upset for the lack of Elena/Tom action. We can't exactly have cute/fuffy moments when Tom and Elena are barely even friends yet; just acquaintances by chance. Well, Elena is under the impression that they _are_ friends but Tom is merely beginning to find that she is not as irritating as he once thought.

So anyway. This is NOT A FILLER. It addresses some important issues; you get a little more about Elena's past (ohhlala XD) and some new (and old but dormant) characters.

**A/N no. 2:** Ok, so flyingcrispi and Elle Q Kaye. WE SWEAR YOU WILL EVENTUALLY BE IN THIS FANFIC! Now is just not the time for your characters to make their appearances, but rest assured they WILL. Ok, now on with the chapter!

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**Chapter 16-****What's ****Hallowe'en without a bit of mayhem**

Elena was having a bad day. Again. First off, she looked into the mirror and saw a miniature Jupiter staring back at her from the middle of her admittedly large forehead. The scream she elicited reverberated through the entire dormitory as she came out of the bathroom fully dressed except for her tie which was missing once again.

"Hey, has anyone seen my tie?" she called out.

After a chorus of resounding 'no's, she heard a very quiet 'I think it's over here.' Elena edged over to the voice and looked questioningly at the owner.

"Oh thanks, uhh…" She stopped and realised to her utter embarrassment that she had forgotten the girl's name.

"Oh it's Renee." The dark-skinned girl stared back unabashedly and held out the tie.

"Oh right. Thanks Renee, I'll see you around." And with that, Elena rushed out of the bright red dormitory.

Lately, Elena's moods ranged from dissatisfaction to irritation with everything and everyone. It had been two weeks since her dramatic return from London and Tom Riddle hadn't spoken another word to her since he bid her goodnight. He seemed oddly pleased as of late, something which coincided with his ignorance of her. This of course, irritated Elena to no end because she was under the impression that their relationship was at least one of civil acquaintance (she really was getting the hang of this 40s vocabulary.)

Tom Riddle was seemingly under another impression.

To make matters worse the professors were piling on assignment after assignment so that Elena was frequently up till midnight in the library trying in vain to keep her marks up. This did not help her unhappy disposition, something which warranted her friends to remain within one yard of her at all times.

"Oi Grey, is that a pimple or are you growing a second head?" Noah Bennett hollered at her from the other end of the common room, causing many heads to stop their conversations and swivel in her direction.

Elena narrowed her eyes, pulled out her wand and cast a swift silent _furunculous _right at his face causing it to erupt in large painful boils which made her pimple look like freckle in comparison. Noah howled clutching his face while the common room exploded in laughter. Elena raised her face defiantly -pimple and all- and stormed out of the common room.

"Blimey, what the bloody hell's gotten into her?" asked Charlus Potter.

"Time of the month," Emery Johnson very wisely muttered back earning him a smack on the head from his girlfriend Charlotte.

* * *

Elena peered at the empty breakfast table. For once her appetite wasn't present. Grabbing an apple, and a slice of toast, she slowly walked out of the castle and into the grounds. The sun had just risen, casting an unearthly golden glow onto the grounds making them appear enchanted. With a sudden burst of anger, she tossed the toast into the lake and watched it disappear as the giant squid claimed it.

"Bloody fucking hell," she muttered. She sagged against the beech tree that was bordering the lake and pulled her knees close to her chest. She was tired, and it annoyed her to no end how everyone else could be so bloody cheerful. Even the bloody squid didn't look as repulsive as it usually did in the morning light.

What was she doing here? Really? It all seemed pointless. Tom Riddle was destined to be Lord fucking Voldemort and there was not a thing she could do about it. And making him eat waffles and accompany her to a fancy club wasn't going to change anything. Why the hell _had_ Snape chosen _her_? She wasn't any better than the next witch, and apart from the fact that she _cared_, she really had nothing going for her.

Then, unbidden an image came into her mind of being pushed on a muggle swing by her father, her laugh ringing out into the deserted park and her father's voice urging her not to let go. She raised her head off her knees and allowed herself to be immersed in the memory.

After what seemed like an age, she saw a pearly white fox materialise in front of her father. "Where _are_ you, William? Dinner's getting cold" the fox said in her mother's cold voice and vanished.

"Come on Ellie, it's time to go now," He tried to gently coax her off the swing, but her four year old self didn't want to go.

"Why Daddy? I don't wanna go now!" She whined and stuck firmly to the swing.

"Alright Ellie, Mum's setting for us, we need to hurry." And with that he picked her up in his arms and turned swiftly on the spot, only to reappear moments later in front of their mansion. As they walked to the door, he whispered in her ear "And remember darling, not a word of this to Mummy. We were at the ice cream parlour, weren't we?"

Sighing contentedly, the four year old Elena whispered back "Yes Daddy, but can we go back tomorrow?"

"Of course we can."

Elena was wrenched back to the present by a loud bell ringing in her head, signalling the start of class. Thankfully, she had a free period and continued to sit by the lake. That was one of the happiest memories she had of home. Even her four year old self knew her mother's hatred of everything muggle and her father's secret love of it. Even then their marriage hadn't been happy, and it all ended when her father passed away less than a year later. Elena could barely remember it now, in fact she couldn't even recall his face – only the feel of his arms around her and the reassuring sound of his voice surrounding her.

She bitterly wondered how long it would take for Carmen and Camilla's faces to fade away like her father's and how long it would take for them to become faceless memories.

All of a sudden, she was angry. It wasn't fair on her to give up now. It wasn't fair on her father, it wasn't fair on Carmen and Camilla, it wasn't fair on Dumbledore and it wasn't fair on Harry Potter, and everyone else who had gone down with a fight. She felt a sense of purpose come over her, and realised that her approach to her mission had been all wrong.

Instead of battling it head on, she had to be more subtle and smart – ironically enough like Tom Riddle. She knew she wore her heart on her sleeve, and she was usually proud of it. But it was going to take a lot more than that to crack Riddle, and she would have to become as adept at concealing her emotions as he was. It was the only way she could get to him, and more importantly find out what the hell he was up to.

As she quickly strode back to the castle, she did not see a face looking at her from the topmost window of the Gryffindor girl's dormitory.

* * *

The door to the Slytherin common room burst open and two teenage boys ambled inside. "So, what do you think is the matter with the Dark Lord _now?_" Avery asked Malfoy.

"Well, judging by the looks that Grey sports nowadays, I'd reckon they've come to a _misunderstanding_, if you get my drift," Malfoy smirked and sat down on a green velvet sofa.

"Hmm, you may have something there. But the Dark Lord hasn't looked happier since the whole Chamber affair…" Avery answered and frowned at the ceiling.

"Yes that is puzzling…I say, you don't suppose he's found another one, do you?" Malfoy suggested.

"Another _what_ precisely?"

"You know…another…outlet…for releasing his…his um…frustration…?" Malfoy stuttered.

"You mean he's shagging someone else behind her back‽ (**A/N: this awesome punctuation mark is called an **_**interrobang **_**and was invented in the 1960s. It's basically '?' so now we no longer need to be grammatically incorrect. Seriously. Google this shit. After you finish the chapter and review of course.**) " Avery yelled out loud.

Malfoy, gnashing his teeth said "Could you have shouted that a bit louder? I don't think the bloody house elves heard you down in the bloody kitchens!"

"Sorry, sorry. But you _really _reckon he's doing that do you?"

"Yeah I do, as a matter of fact. I bet it's a library swotter, the Dark Lord is always holed up in there," Malfoy answered with a relish.

"Or _maybe_ it's a bloke, which explains her anger and his secrecy," A snarky voice came from the open dormitory door, followed by a tall, burly body belonging to Augustus Rookwood, current seventh year and Death Eater.

"Are you joking Rookwood‽ The Dark Lord, a fucking ponce?" Malfoy said, disgust evident in his tone.

"Maybe it's not that bad…it _does _explain things," Avery said quietly.

"Not that bad? _Not that bad?_ I'm not going to fucking follow order from a bloody poof, you understand that? It bloody well better not be the case!" Rookwood hissed dangerously.

After a long uncomfortable silence, Avery picked up his bag and announced "I'm going to the library…have to uh return my book…" And he immediately left the common room.

* * *

Two Weeks Ago…

Quick footsteps beat a staccato on the cold stone floor of the seventh floor corridor. Tom Riddle had been pacing that stretch for the last hour, wracking his brains for a solution on where to search for the elusive book on Horcruxes. He had combed the school library with fine toothed brush, covering every nook and cranny of the place, but he was as far from reaching his goal as ever.

The Grey girl hadn't helped matters. She had only served as a distraction and Tom realised that this was going to stop now. Unbidden, an image of her standing next to an unconscious Bennett, calling out his name with a blush, came into his mind.

Shaken, he stopped pacing and impatiently shrugged it away. _Oh for God's sake, I just need the book NOW! It's the key to everything._

Suddenly a door appeared on the wall in front of him. Wonderingly he touched the handle and turned the large oak doors. The sight of a large comfortable round room met his eyes. It was covered in shelves after shelves of books, creating an effect of being at the bottom of a well full of books. It had a skylight window at the top, where the light of the stars filtered through, as the sun had still not risen. There was a crooked stepladder to his left, which magically expanded or contracted depending on where one wanted to search. It was well lit, with torches as appropriate intervals and a fireplace directly in front of him, complete with a pair of couches and a table.

Smiling he looked at the room in delight. Hogwarts, his only home, never failed to amaze him, and this time it had outdone itself. He supposed the door was enchanted only to appear when a seeker was desperate enough for it. He pushed the mystery of the room's appearance for another time.

Hurriedly he strode over to nearest shelf and picked a book at random. _Secrets of the Lost Art_ was the title and it appeared to have step-by-step instructions on creating Horcruxes. Immersed in the book, he sat down onto the nearest couch and proceeded to read.

Several hours later, when the torches had gone out, and natural light came in through the window; Tom finally found the book that had consumed him for the last few months. _Horcruxes: The Tainted Magick_ was nestled between _Soul Searching for Wizards_ and _Skills of the Darkest_. Tom reached for it and his euphoria at achieving what he had set out to do returned with full force, and if someone had happened to walk past the Room at the time, they would have heard a dignified whoop from within.

For the next few weeks there was a spring in his step. Everyone else seemed so insignificant compared to what the book had revealed to him. Even the Grey girl was just part of the background now, irrelevant to the course of things, to his future.

* * *

Present…

The halls and corridors of Hogwarts Castle were subject to only one topic of discussion these days – Hallowe'en. A delicious smell from the kitchens permeated the castle in the week leading up to the Feast, and by the time Monday (the day before the Feast) rolled around, the house elves were forced to put Imperturbable Charms on their doors, for fear of students nipping in for a 'snack' before dinner.

Elena made sure to keep up a cheerful countenance for Hallowe'en. This caused everyone around her, from her dorm mates to Noah to the professors, to breath a sigh of relief, as she was no longer as touchy as a blast-ended skrewt. Truth to tell, she wasn't as happy and carefree as she had been before, but there was no one, sadly, that close to her in these times who could tell the difference and they all assumed that she'd been having a bad time, as most teenagers are bound to do sometime in their angst-ridden teenage lives.

To celebrate the upcoming feast, the professors seemed to have taken it upon themselves to stretch the sixth years to breaking point, and assigned so much homework that even Tom Riddle was seen up late at night at the library, attempting to finish it all as fast as he could, so he would be able to sneak into that marvellous room again. Elena was also spending most of her time at the library, though making sure to keep a safe distance away from Riddle – she could not risk him seeing through her façade, as he would do in a second if she allowed him. And so this is where Monday night found Elena Grey – engrossed in a _fascinating_ book about flesh repelling fungi, with scrolls of parchment carelessly strewn around her.

"Hi! There you are!" An annoyingly chirpy voice interrupted her homework session. Elena looked up and saw it was only Noah, looking slightly mischievous.

"Oh, yeah hi…" She appeared a bit disgruntled, but quickly put a smile on her face. "So, what's up?"

"What's…what? You say some strange things Elena. Anyway, I was wondering…Potter, Johnson and I are getting a feeling that things have been too quiet lately…" He trailed off, smiling at her.

"What things?"

"Oh, you know, _things around the castle_…and so we thought…what's Hallowe'en without a bit of mayhem, no?" He was grinning evilly now.

In spite of herself, Elena felt her mouth stretch into a wide genuine smile and said, "Go on Mr. Bennett, I'm listening."

"Right, so do you want to accompany Potter, Johnson and I as we attempt to spike the pumpkin juice with, let's say a… ahem…special potion?"

"What kind of potion?" Elena asked, packing away her books, and deciding that flesh repelling fungi could wait for another time. The two of them walked out of the library, and unbeknownst to either, Tom Riddle's dark eyes followed them out.

"Well let's just say that when old Dippet wakes up the morning after, he'll be furious."

"Right, that sounds like fun!" Elena's good mood had returned and she suddenly realised how fond she was of Noah. "So, when are you guys planning to do this?"

"Round about three in the morning tonight…are you good with that?"

"Yes, absolutely! I'll see you then!" Elena said, and bounded into the common room, up the stairs and into the girl's dormitory. There she rummaged around for her old alarm clock, set it for 3am and collapsed on her bed, thoughts whirling in her mind.

She had, for the last week, successfully kept up the charade of being her 'normal' self – with a few exceptions. She was undeniably cool towards Tom Riddle – she only talked to him when absolutely necessary and acquired the same cold, disinterested tone when she did. This did not seem to have a profound effect on him; in fact she doubted he noticed anything at all. But everyone around them did, and the only logical conclusion that they drew from this was that she and Tom were having a fight.

Elena was perfectly satisfied with this conclusion, and grateful that her reputation wasn't being compromised. She had also, however, begun tailing him around. It was very difficult to do at first, but after casting the strongest Disillusionment Charms she had ever done before, she became much more confidant in her espionage skills. So far, she hadn't gleaned much from her observations, but this did not deter her in any way.

She was exhausted though, and strangely looking forward to the prank with Noah and the others. She wistfully realised she was going to miss him a lot when she returned to her own time. And with that thought in mind, she fell into a disturbing sleep.

The shrill alarm clock rung at precisely 3am in the morning and Elena abruptly awoke. Stifling the alarm clock's noise with her blankets, she waited a few seconds to make sure everyone else was still asleep. They were all sleeping, and no one stirred except for someone on the bed at the far end of the dormitory – she appeared to be having a nightmare. Elena cautiously got up and tiptoed to the girl's bed. It was Renee – the one whose name Elena had forgotten last week. After watching her twist and turn for a few minutes, Elena bit her lip, torn between what to do.

Finally she decided there wasn't much she could do now, and made her way to her own trunk, pulled out a thick jumper, scarf and a pair of shoes and walked out of the dorm.

"What took so long? We were going to come up there in a minute," Noah whispered, annoyed.

"Ha, like you could. You'd get dumped on your arse if you tried," Elena said, smirking. She gestured to her scarf and jumper and added, "I just was getting ready."

"Well then my fair lady, let us proceed," Charlus Potter grinned holding out his hand.

Elena rolled her eyes but took it anyway, and the four of them climbed out of the portrait hall, waking up the Fat Lady in the process. ("Get back here you ruffians, I'll teach you to disturb my sleep!")

"So, what potion exactly are we spiking the pumpkin juice with?" Elena asked.

"Oh you know, you'll see," Noah grinned.

Elena elbowed him sharply in the ribs. "Ouch! Fine. God. I'll tell you," he said, "Emery here thought we could just turn everyone into a pumpkin but come on how utterly _boring_ would that be. Then we've got the clichéd frogs, chickens and other animals. But this little potion here," he brought out a suspiciously small flask, "is going to cause _everyone_ to blurt out their innermost, thoughts; their deepest, darkest secrets, in the Great Hall; right in front of everyone else. Come on tell me I'm a genius."

"Well, it sounds hilarious but how in Merlin's name did you three manage to brew it?" Elena asked.

"Didn't," he answered, "For some reason, Sluggy already had a huge cauldron full of it. Don't understand _why_ but all the better for us."

Having already had a very bad experience with one of Slughorn's potions, Elena seemed to have somewhat of an idea. Why would a potions _Professor_ need Body Changing Potion anyway? Or the potion Noah was talking about. Elena personally thought Slughorn was illegally brewing potions and selling them on the black market. As a matter of fact, she had _always _thought so. Even when she was back in the future, she'd heard rumours…

Soon, the Gryffindors reached the kitchens. Carefully, they ticked the pear and tip-toed in making sure they did not wake the house elves who were all fast asleep. "Honestly you idiots," Elena whispered casting a quick charm that silenced their footsteps.

Slowly, Charlus Potter ambled forwards opening the fridge (Everyday, the pumpkin juice was prepared in a huge cooking cauldron, and chilled overnight in magical refrigerator to get the temperature perfect), which gave a loud, high-pitched creek. Elena looked around frantically but fortunately, the houselves were still fast asleep. Charlus tipped in the potion- an iridescent purple, viscous liquid. A surprising amount of potion was concealed in the tiny flask and once the entirety of it was out, the pumpkin juice glowed a bright dangerous purple.

"Why the _hell_ is it _glowing_?" Emery whispered irately.

"Oh, shit," Noah whispered, "We forgot to research the potion, no one's going to drink glowing liquid."

"No shit!" Elena hissed, "Are you boys wizards or _what_?" And with that she cast another charm, this time, one that quickly returned the pumpkin juice to its original colour and characteristics. "There, now no one will know what's in there. Quick, let's get the hell out of here before we get caught."

The four Gryffindors made their way back to their common room, with similar gleeful grins plastered on their faces. For the first time in weeks, Elena was actually looking forward to waking up the next morning.

* * *

**A/N:** ohhh dear, a potion that reveals one's deepest secrets? What are we going to find out _now_? Please, please _PLEASE_ review, it means the world to us. What did you think about Elena and Tom's new epiphanies? Now we know the Slytherins are homophobic; what does this mean for Noah and Gavin?

ooooh

dun dun dun TENSION :D

Special shoutout to SilverUkami for reviewing every chapter. Seriously, you don't know how much we appreciate it; thank you so much!

**And now for a delicious excerpt to tantalise your minds and keep you begging for more:**

_Muriel's face took on a slightly sick expression. She clapped her hands over mouth, her eyes bugging out, desperate not to say what she was eventually going to have to._

_"Ohhh, I wonder what Weasley got to hide," Kate said, sneering at her._

"_I-I-I'm in love with __NO NO I WON'T say it...his blonde hair catches the sunlight...NO I WILL NOT..."_

_**TUNE IN NEXT TIME ON HOLDING OUT FOR A HERO TO FIND OUT WHAT MURIEL SAID.**_

_**Mwahahaahahhahahahahahah. :D  
**_


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